


Flickering Light in the Darkness

by RikuKingdomHearts3, tmart_x13



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aqua and Zack are good parents, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Modern AU, Orphaned Vanitas, Vanitas needs a hug, Zack just has too much energy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 50,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22637674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikuKingdomHearts3/pseuds/RikuKingdomHearts3, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmart_x13/pseuds/tmart_x13
Summary: Vanitas had been on his own for some time now. Lost and alone, he tried to make it work, but the weight of the world was proving to be a bit much. He was only one little boy in the huge scary world. However, what will happen when he encounters a bright and happy boy about his age?
Relationships: Aqua/Zack (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TMart: Hello everyone! I am back with another story now. And once again, I have my good friend RikuKingdomHeart3 with me writing this. This was crossposted on Fanfiction already, but we are finally getting it here now. 
> 
> Riku: Hey and welcome! Also just want to let the readers know there is some darker themes at some points, so be aware when reading. But we hope you like it.
> 
> TMart: That's right. Thanks for reminding me. Just be prepared when reading. Now, let's get to the story!

Rain poured over a quiet city. It was evening time but due to the rain, most of the people had already gone to their homes. Though, there were still few who shuffled through the streets, using their umbrellas as shields to protect from the wind that directed the rain at them. As the strangers walked through the streets, they all kept their attention straightforward, never bothering to deviate from their normal paths or routines. Because of this, no one ever turned their attention to the alleyways. They were just dead ends anyways with nothing but garbage and stray cats usually.

At least, that was the general assumption. Mostly everyone knew that there was the occasional homeless person who slept in the alleyways. With no home to go to, there was really no place else for them. However, what most didn't think about was if there was ever a homeless child. Someone that could not really help themselves or even know what to do. If any did think of it, they had it as a passing thought. No one wanted to dwell on such a saddening thought.

But down one lone alley, in the shadows of the buildings, there was a young someone. At the farthest end of the alleyway laid a small hideout, made from a few blankets and pillows that had been tossed aside by others. The makeshift hut was just within a small alcove against the stones, with just enough room to be covered from the rain. It was not much shelter, but it was better than nothing.

Wrapped tightly in the blankets laid a young boy, trying his best to get some sleep; though the pouring rain was trying to keep him from that. The crying sky had soaked the blanket that was used to shield from the cold, hard ground, which made things all the more difficult for the young lad. He tried tossing and turning, hoping to find a position that was more comfortable than the others.

But everything was just wet. It was wet and soggy, and each motion made a squishing sound, which reverberated through his ears. After a few more minutes, a small sigh was heard from against the pillows as the young boy turned back over on his back and then proceeded to sit up slowly. He started to open his eyes, but ended up blinking a few times to get readjusted to the light; or rather, the lack thereof. Though, it was lighter than the back of his eyelids at least.

Once he was finally ready, his eyes opened slowly, revealing deep golden-yellow pupils. The boy leaned forward slightly more, allowing the light from one of the nearby buildings to illuminate his facial features. Baggy eyelids decorated the area around his eyes, some dark spots able to be seen, indicating a lack of sleep and nutrition. His hair blended well against the shadows of the night, being the same shade of black as the darkness he was in. The black stranded jutted out in several different directions, some spikes being larger than others with a few shorter pieces falling over the front of his shallow face.

The boy sat there alone, the wet pillows being the only thing that helped to shield him from most of the rain. He looked straight ahead, not bothering to focus on anything as he spaced out. Thoughts of being dry entered his small mind, along with ideas of having something to eat, as his stomach was starting to feel empty. However, it was the middle of the night and he did not want to go out anywhere. But the longer he sat there, the more prominent the feeling became.

His yellow eyes began to narrow and pupils started to expand as he could feel tears welling up in them. Though, the water from the rain that dripped down his face was able to partially cover his new tears that formed, but they still came anyways. He was hungry. He wanted to just get some good food so that he could try to sleep. He wished that someone would help him; anyone.

But there was nothing he could do at this hour. There was hardly anyone out and the weather dwindled the numbers drastically. It bothered him greatly, but he knew there wasn't anything else he could do about it. It wasn't like he could walk into a restaurant and order food.

He was only 6-years- old. He had no money or anything else. He only had the one pair of clothes that consisted of a dark grey ratty long sleeved shirt, and black pants, equally torn and tattered. He had no socks, but he thankfully had a pair of old, worn-out shoes. He had only those clothes and the pillows and blankets. He could only wish he had more. But as the days had passed, he saw a lot of what he wanted would be impossible.

The thought had crossed his mind before to try to go out into the streets and ask around for food. He thought maybe to just keep trying. But the times that he had done so before yielded no results, and sometimes he even was me with resistance and looks of disapproval from others. It was almost like they were scared of him, but in fact, it was the opposite. He wasn't too fond of adults or really anyone, so trust was something hard to understand. And yet, when it was sunny and bright days, he would still go out anyways, hoping that there would be some change.

So much time had passed since he ended up on his own that he lost track of how long it really had been. It was no longer a main concern of his to worry about that length of time, or even what he had left behind. The only thing that was on his mind was survival; however, the dwindling of hope with each day made him wonder why he was even trying to survive. Yet, against all logic, he did it anyways.

As the night wore on, the boy's stomach began to turn and twist, begging for something to be fed to it. He couldn't stand it any longer. The rain continued to pour down, not as heavy as earlier in the evening, but enough that the boy did not want to get wet. Not knowing what really to decide, he just continued to sit there in silence.

He curled up, bringing his knees to his chest. Another sob escaped from him as he let the feeling of complete hopelessness sink in. But then he heard a sound from a bit down the alleyway. Curious, he peeked around the corner of his hideout to look and saw that there was a door open. Since he was in a backstreet, there were a few doors along the way as the back entrance to apartments.

There were times when the boy thought to knock on the doors and ask for food, but the thoughts of talking to adults still terrified him. He could never make up the strength to do it, so he tried to be content with just being on his own. But he always watched the adults from his shelter, just to see what would happen.

This time though, something did happen. An adult, the boy could not tell if it was a man or woman, stepped outside briefly to place a pizza box out on top of the garage can next to their door. They headed right back inside after that, closing the door behind them. The amber-eyed boy stared down the way at the box for a few seconds, almost entranced. Within a beat, the boy bolted from his seat, no longer caring about the rain coming down. He ran, even though cold rain soaked up his clothes, making him shiver. He suddenly had some hope, which was something that he had been running out of, that there would be something, anything left.

He made it to the pizza box and opened it up, his heart feeling like it skipped a beat. But once it was open, he breathed a sigh of relief. Though there was little of it, the pizza box had several half eaten crusts scattered inside, along with a couple of almost eaten pizza slices. There were also a few mushrooms that had been put to the side, most likely due to a child being picking and picked them off. Even though the boy himself didn't like mushrooms, he immediately picked them up and ate them as they were the easiest to get to.

Though, with the rain still coming down frequently, he decided that it was best to try to take shelter again so that he nor the pizza would get any wetter. Quickly, he turned around and jogged back to his little hut as fast as he could, making sure to be careful with the pizza. After a few seconds, he was there safely with food in hand, taking a plop right down on the blanket and pillow he had there for a cushion. It squeaked with dampness, but he did not care.

He almost started to tear into the food since he was so hungry, but then he thought quickly that it might be best to eat slowly to savor it all. His patience was not the best, though he didn't want to eat it up all too quickly. Slowly, he picked up a piece of the crust and started to chew on it, trying to take as much time as he could to enjoy the little food that he had.

A few minutes passed by and the boy was now nearly finished with all of the food that was leftover. Every single crumb was about gone from the box now, leaving a grease-stained and empty cardboard box. He looked at it for a brief moment, before deciding that the box would be some good protection, as either a type of umbrella or mat to lay on.

Just as he began to undo the box, he noticed there was now silence in the area. Upon turning around and glancing out, the rain had stopped finally, which brought relief across his face. Maybe now he could finally get some decent sleep and not have to worry about getting wet.

After the box was completely opened and taken apart, he laid it out on the ground below the blanket, hoping that the cardboard would help to soak up some of the water. The blanket was slightly damp, so he tried to wring it out the best he could, with not much happening because of his lesser strength. Then, he laid the blanket back down and on top of the disassembled pizza box, leaving enough covering to be able to lay the other side over him. The pillows were slightly soggy but not too much, so he fluffed those back up that he had for cushioning to prepare his makeshift bed for himself.

The boy then took a seat on the blanket and leaned backwards until his back was firmly against the coverings that he had. Once there, the other side of the blanket was thrown over his body to protect against the mildly cool breeze that was whispering through the night. A shiver ran up his spine, partially from the cool air and also from the dampness of his clothes and materials, but he had nothing else he could do but to suffer through it.

Having a bit of food in his stomach made him feel much better, and also a bit more tired than before. He hoped that he could go off to sleep and get some much needed rest, even if it wasn't the best comfort in the world. Thoughts slowly entered into his mind of when he might be able to get a real home. If that was even possible. He was just a child. He didn't even know if it was possible for him to get a house to have. All of it seemed as though he had been that way for quite a while now, so he didn't know what would happen. To a young child, he had no idea how much time had actually passed. He had stopped paying attention to that, only hoping things would get better.

His eyes finally started to grow heavy then, and he welcomed the sweet embrace of sleep. He closed his eyes and saw only darkness, the back of his eyelids. The sound of nature around the area rang through his ears, as well as the sounds of passing cars and the occasional chatter from the buildings around him. However, all of that began to slowly dissipate and fade, and he finally drifted into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TMart: And that wraps up the very first chapter of the story. We hope you guys enjoyed it.
> 
> Riku: We have a plan set in place at least. If you've made it here, thank you for reading and we hope you continue with it. 
> 
> TMart: For now, there should be a chapter each week. But let us know what you think, and we will see you in the next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to another chapter of this now. (I know I said a week before but I wanted to get this chapter up). Thank you for all of the people who are interested in this so far. Let's just get right into it.

The next morning, the boy finally awoke, light creeping in through his tightly shut eyelids, signifying the dawn of the day. He slowly fluttered his eyes as his hand reached up to rub them, trying to make sure to get most of the drowsiness gone from them. It took a few minutes for those yellow eyes to finally stay opened and unaffected by the increasingly glaring light.

He sat up, covers still draped across his body. Though he was even colder than he was before, even with being under the blanket. Upon his body being upright, a slight dizziness tried to overtake him. His head felt heavy as he winced slightly. The heaviness wasn't just in his head, but also his entire body. He also noticed that his nose was running as well. It wasn't long after until a loud sneeze came, discharging a good bit of snot.

He groaned afterwords, the heavy feeling in his head now worse than before. Though the weather felt warm and fair in the morning, he was shivering and cold.

 _"Why do I feel like this…? I'm all icky and cold…"_ The boy then felt his clothes. They were still wet and pressed against his body, making him feel colder. He sniffled again. _"It's not fair… why does this gotta happen?"_

He was sick. And he didn't know what he could do about it.

After a moment he shook his head. "Come on Vanitas… you can do this." He spoke out loud to himself, hoping it would be some reassurance. "Can't give up. Gotta keep going."

Besides being sick, the next couple of days passed by pretty much the same as the previous one had, except this time without any rain. However, that fact did not alleviate the sickness from Vanitas. He made an attempt to step out into the open one of those days, attempting to hopefully find some form of dry clothing. However, the only thing that he was met with was disappointment. The lack of cooperation from others and also the inability to locate anything that was disposed of recently made things a bit harder.

The clothes had air-dried by a certain point, but the covers and pillows remained wet from the still damp ground, meaning his sickness was still ever present. He had now developed a small cough along with sneezing and chills. Despite being only six, he knew that he wasn't getting any better. But he still did not want to give up yet.

Vanitas sighed slightly, knowing that the only recourse left to him would be to venture out into the public, hoping to find something there. Though he still wasn't too fond of trying to talk to adults. But seeing as how the only two options were to find dry garments or continue to become sicker and stay wet, the latter prospect did not appeal to the small boy that much.

Upon finally making that decision, Vanitas stood up slowly from his small hideaway, bushing off all of the dirt that he could from himself. He slowly walked forward in the direction of the front of the alleyway until the sunlight from the early morning was almost entirely upon his small body. Vanitas stood still in the glistening sun, bathing in its warm radiance as it washed over him, giving him some heat to his still slightly cool body.

"This feels nice," he muttered to himself, staring up at the sky before hiding his face again as the bright sunlight blinded him for a moment.

Then, with a deep inhaling breath, he set off.

Wandering through the city brought on so much nervousness and anxiety that Vanitas almost did not know how to handle it. He was only a child, yet was out on the streets by himself. So many people passed by him quickly, never thinking to give him, a child that was wet and hungry, a look at all. Everyone was caught up in the daily grind of their own lives. It just didn't make sense to him. Why would nobody try to help him?

The day dragged on slowly as he traveled from place to place around the city, never seeming to be able to get any help or be able to find any spare clothes. He had tried grabbing some that had seemingly been tossed out by some buildings; however, he was chased away by some adults, claiming him to be some attempted thief. The sun had circled through the sky until it was directly overhead now, the bright light shining down even more than before. Being out in the warm air, he had expected to feel somewhat better; but the fact remained that he was still sick, evidenced by his constant sniffling, sneezing, and coughing throughout the day. Not only that, but he had begun to shake and become colder, despite being in the radiant heat. Maybe it was getting worse.

Vanitas soon found himself near what looked like the local park. He had come to the place before when out looking, and only had been there a couple of times in the past. It was a beautiful place, with luscious green trees and bushes lining the area and meshing with the equally lush grass. Today it looked especially nice, and everyone else thought that as well. The rain had dried out and it looked like it never had stormed at all. There was also evidence in this from how the area was much more full than normal. This made him think that there might be a better chance to find someone that might try to help.

But first, he realized that he needed to rest, as his body seemed to be growing weaker, possibly due to the lack of food and increasing sickness. It was near lunchtime anyways, as the position of the sun told him that it was around noon. Reading the sun's position was one of the only useful things he had learned so far. Soon, he found a large tree close to where he had entered and slumped down next to it, making sure to stay close in the sunlight.

The grass felt so soft on that day, padding his slightly wet bottom with a feeling of warmness that he had not felt in days. It was so soft that he decided to try laying down on it, placing his head right next to the trunk of the tree on the fluffy grass. It was just as comfortable to his head as well. However, there was a breeze that would blow every so often, making him shiver slightly and sneeze occasionally.

Despite those issues, he still found himself to be getting comfy; so much so, that his eyes began to get heavy. Thoughts entered his mind about needing to find some help, to find some food, and to find some clothing. But a more prevalent thought was how cozy he was getting and how light his body began to feel.

"Maybe sleep will help," Vanitas yawned as he turned on his side and curled up. Just as soon as he closed his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Hey!" a young voice shouted. "Wake up!"

Vanitas squinted his eyes open to see someone standing in front of him. Though, he could not yet make out the features of the person in question. But the voice sounded childish, as if it was someone around his same age possibly. He fluttered his eyes a few more times, trying to focus in on who was standing before him. Finally, things started to become a bit more clear as his amber eyes locked onto a young boy.

The boy indeed looked to be about as small as he was, so Vanitas had interpreted that part correctly at least. He noticed that the person was wearing a simple pair of tan shorts and a white t-shirt with a nice pair of black and white checkered tennis shoes on his feet. Vanitas moved his eyes upward and landed them on an innocent-looking face with deep blue eyes that looked as clear as the ocean. Though he had never seen the ocean himself, he knew what it looked like from pictures. In addition, the hair upon the boy's head partially draped between his eyes and seemed to be windswept to the right, with different height spikes going in a few directions. It matched the color of his shorts almost perfectly too.

"Oh, you are awake! Good. What you sleeping here for?" the boy spoke out again.

Vanitas wanted to answer, but figured that he would try to sit up first. However, that proved to be problematic. His whole body felt still and heavy. His head swirled as he used all of the strength his little body had. But even then he had very little strength with how he had been feeling.

He tried again, but barely managed an inch above the ground. He sighed and let his body flop back to the ground.

"You need some help?" the boy asked as he held out his hands.

Vanitas stared back at him. He didn't know what to think about this random boy who woke him up. While adults made him feel scared and hesitant, he wasn't sure about other children. He never got the chance to play with anyone beforehand.

He saw the smile on the boy's face. It was honest and kind, something Vanitas wasn't use to. There was nothing scary about this kid. So Vanitas took the benefit of the doubt and took hold of the boy's hands.

With a grunt the blond-haired boy managed to pull Vanitas up on to his feet. Now standing his head swirled more and he nearly collapsed back down. Thankfully he was held up by the boy to keep from doing that.

"Wow you're really dizzy. You okay?"

Vanitas stared at the boy for a moment. He contemplated whether or not to tell. He didn't know this boy. What reason did he have to tell him? Though Vanitas realized maybe the boy could help him. He shook his head, still not saying a word.

"That's not good. You tired or something?"

Vanitas hummed as he tried to think of what to say. Thankfully he didn't have to as another coughing fit overcame him. It was followed by shivering and sneezing to top it off, showing exactly what he wanted to say in the first place.

"Oh! You're sick! Well where's your mommy and daddy? Can't they help?" the boy asked curiosity.

Vanitas shuddered as he took a step back. He shook his head vigorously. There was no way his parents could help him. They wouldn't even want to help him. He was on his own. He couldn't go back to them.

"Hey it's okay," the boy said softly as he placed a hand on Vanitas's arm. "Can you talk though? You have a name?"

"Yeah…" Vanitas muttered, his throat sore and dry. "It's Vanitas."

"Hi Vanitas! My name's Ventus," he said pointing to himself. "...but you can call me Ven."

"Okay…"

"So you need help then?"

Vanitas didn't know how to answer. He never expected to get someone to help him. Even if it was just another kid his age, it was something at least. As he tried to think, he felt his stomach grumble. He was still hungry. The pizza crusts had helped a little, but it wasn't enough.

"I'm hungry…" Vanitas whispered.

"You should come with me then! We can get good food and snacks at my house. Come on," Ventus chimed happily as he went to grab Vanitas's wrist to pull him along.

As soon as Ventus's hand wrapped around Vanitas's, he let out a yelp and stumbled back. He pulled away from Ventus and fell back over the tree stump.

Ventus stared confused at Vanitas. All he had done was grab his wrist so he could walk with him. Why did that scare him? It didn't make any sense to Ventus. But he could see that Vanitas clearly did not like that.

"Um sorry!" Ventus quickly said. "Didn't mean to scare you. Guess you don't wanna be grabbed like that?"

Vanitas pursed his lips as he shook his head, confirming that he really didn't like that. Ventus frowned, not understanding why it had upset Vanitas. He didn't quite get it. But he figured his mother might. He remembered his mother's wise words though as he stared as Vantias, who still looked afraid. He remembered she said that he shouldn't continue to do something if it made someone else upset. So he thought for a moment before speaking to Vanitas again.

"Okay I won't grab you like that. Let me help you back up again," Ventus said as he held out his hands.

Vanitas let Ventus pull him up and made sure he wouldn't fall over again. Once that was over Ventus spoke up again. "Hey is it okay if we can hold hands? So you don't get lost following me."

Holding hands? Vanitas didn't know what to think about that. He didn't know if that meant a good thing or bad. All he knew was being grabbed by the wrist was bad. And it would lead to more bad things. But holding hands? It almost sounded foreign to him.

"I won't hurt you," Ventus whispered in a smile. Slowly he reached his hand out and gently wrapped it around Vanitas's.

Vanitas held his breath for a moment, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. The two of them just stood there, with Vanitas's hand in Ventus's.

"See? Nothing bad about that. Now let's go! We got snacks to get to," Ventus said before pulling Vanitas along, heading out of the park.

A little hope shimmered in Vanitas's chest. Ventus seemed like a nice boy, much nicer than anyone that he had ever met before in his short life. All of this was strange to him, someone actually helping him, since he had only known a harsh life growing up. Maybe now he could get some help that he needed. And possibly lead a life that he wanted.

Ventus continued to pull him along, and Vanitas was just allowing it as he became lost in thought, not really thinking of where they could be going. Part of him was still shocked by the fact that someone had offered help to him. He thought that nobody had cared; at least, that is what he was led to believe. Even though Ventus was seeming to try to help him though, Vanitas still was unsure, but also curious at the same time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed that short read there. Of course, we enjoy the idea of Ventus and Vanitas getting along so of course it had to be him. There's more where that came from though, and we have most of this story planned out already. If you liked it, let us know if you want to. And we (Riku and I, tmart the other co author) will see you all next week with another chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did we forget about uploading these chapters? I think we did, oops. Sorry about that, but now we are back to uploading this! Hope you all enjoy!

The two little boys walked down the street for a while, with Ventus happily humming to himself. Vanitas watched him, confused by everything that he had seen from the boy so far. Ventus was happy, cheerful, and everything Vanitas had never expected to see in a person.

Ventus seemed to catch onto Vanitas staring and turned towards him. He gave another large smile. "We're almost there, don't worry. Wait 'till you see it. We gotta nice big house. And a big backyard with a playground! Not like the park's playground. That's a big one. But we have a mini one in the backyard."

"Okay…" Vanitas muttered.

While he had been to the park several times, he never had gone around to the playground section. He always wanted to, but he never found the courage to get near the large crowds of children running around.

"You don't talk much, do you Vani?" Ventus asked. Suddenly his eyes widened as he let out a short gasp. "Oh! Is that okay? To call you Vani? Vanitas is a cool name, but Vani is easier don't ya think?"

Vanitas nearly stopped walking. He wasn't sure he had heard Ventus right. "Y-You think… my… my name is c-cool?"

Ventus couldn't have thought that. To Vanitas, that didn't make sense. His name… cool? No… that wasn't right. His name wasn't cool. It wasn't a good name at all. His parents… they had told him so. So why did Ventus think his name was cool? Vanitas couldn't process the idea of such a thing.

"Of course I do!" Ventus rang out, snapping Vanitas out of his own thoughts. "It's neat sounding. And kinda similar to my name."

"Oh… I guess it kinda does sound similar," Vanitas mumbled, mulling it over. As he thought more about Ventus's words, a small warmth stirred in his chest. He looked up and saw Ventus smiling at him once again, and he couldn't help but smile back. He had never been complimented on his name before. It was a strange thing to hear from someone. And it was all true that Ventus meant. Vanitas could see that it was true right from the expression on Ventus's face.

Tears started to swell in Vanitas's eyes, but he made no attempt to wipe them away. He never tried to stop them before, so he didn't care to try now. "Th-Thank… Thank you Ventus… I mean Ven."

Ventus's smile slightly faded from his face as he stared at Vanitas. A worried expression was born in its place as his small mind began to wonder what he could have done to make Vanitas cry. "Umm… w-what's wrong Vani? You are crying. I didn't say anything wrong did I?" the boy asked, trying to figure out exactly what to say and why Vanitas had thanked him.

"You… You're not being mean to m-me…" Vanitas replied quietly. "You didn't say my name was awful. I thought my name was a bad thing… but you like it…"

"Well yeah… I'd never be mean or think your name is bad. Why you think that? It's really cool," Ventus replied, his smile starting to return. "Are you okay though?"

Vanitas whimpered slightly, as he lowered his head. He tried to keep his breathing calm, but it was slowly beginning to become uneven. He didn't want to tell the truth. Telling the truth or speaking out was never good for him. Even if he felt like he could trust Ventus, he couldn't tell him. So he just let out another whimper and shook his head. "D-Don't wanna talk about it…"

"Hmm okay. If you don't wanna, I won't ask you. Let's keep going though, we're almost home," Ventus said as he pulled Vanitas along again, continuing down the path.

Surprised by how considerate Ventus was being towards him, Vanitas stopped his whimpers and allowed the boy to string him along some more. Even as nice as the boy was, he had expected him to keep pressing for information, but that never happened. It brought a slight bit of ease to Vanitas, knowing that he would not have to think too much about his past with this boy. He hoped that would be the way that it would stay.

Ventus led him past a few more houses, some of which Vanitas had never seen before. He had never been on that side of the town before, so he had no idea where he was. He continued to stay silent, but he secretly worried that Ventus might think that odd of him; however, his pending friend didn't seem to mind at all. It wasn't too much longer before he spoke again anyways.

"Okay we are here!" he exclaimed with a tinge of excitement radiating through his voice.

Vanitas stared to see them standing in front of a house. It was two stories, and the wood was painting a light blue. It was much larger than Vanitas had expected it to be. He gawked in surprise as he continued to stare at it.

"Let's go inside! Unless you wanna play out in the backyard. Do you wanna go play? Are you still hungry?" Ventus asked his questions quickly, excited yet also wanting to make sure that Vanitas was okay.

"Still hungry… Vanitas mumbled.

"Okay! Let's go inside and grab some snacks then!" Ventus said before grabbing the door handle and opening it up.

Vanitas shadowed behind Ventus as they stepped inside. The house was clean and quiet, but it was far more than Vanitas expected again. All of this was far more than he ever expected to see. He had never seen such a nice and clean looking house before. There wasn't any torn or tattered furniture, or broken glass. Everything was far better than that.

Once he was fully inside and the door was closed behind him, Vanitas started to look around even more, wanting to take in all that he could see. The room he was currently standing in was quite large, with a white wall on either side as well as one at the back with a doorway on the left back corner, which was straight ahead. On the walls were hung various pictures that Vanitas assumed were family members or friends. Artwork also graced the white walls, making the room seem not as plain as it normally would have otherwise.

There was a large, brown couch that was positioned at the back wall, directly in the center. Next to it was a large tan looking chair to the right of where Vanitas was looking, followed by an end table being next to the end of it and an exact copy on the other end of the couch. In front of the couch sat a round glass table, and under it was a nice fluffy rug that was split between the colors blue, orange, and green.

While he was looking to the right, there was a TV that was fixed on the front wall of the house, covering a large area too. Over on the other side closer to the corner he saw several bookcases that lined the walls, all filled with more books than he had ever seen in his whole life. He actually did enjoy reading books, but never had much at all.

As he was getting lost in his thoughts on books, he felt a nudge on his shoulder, followed by a small voice. "Hey! Vani. You okay? You looked to be lost there."

"Um… I was just looking. Sorry…" Vanitas said as he lowered his head.

"You don't gotta be sorry. You said you were looking, so it's okay. Now let's get some snacks already!" Ventus said before walking through the doorway into the next room.

Vanitas scurried behind him, trying to not lose sight of him despite being in a house. It was unfamiliar territory after all, so he had no idea where anything was. The doorway had led them into a wide hallway with many other doors on either side. Ven branched off into the first one on the left, and Vanitas followed closely behind. Now they were in a kitchen area. Ventus began opening cabinets and looking through food items. Soon enough, he pulled out a big box of crackers.

"My mom says if I am ever hungry before a meal, I should just eat crackers and not sweets or chocolate. So here ya go!" Ventus said, offering the box over to Vanitas.

Vanitas stared at the box for a moment, almost afraid to take it. But his shaky little hands eventually reached out and took the box from Ventus. He opened it up and took a deep breath, smelling the crackers. A smile was brought to his face before he reached a hand down and took out a short stack of them.

He didn't say another word before eating the crackers right away. He smiled happily as he ate. Finally glad to have some full not half eaten food for himself. Within mere seconds, the crackers he had were gone, sucked up into the boy's mouth which acted like a vacuum cleaner. His mouth was now littered with crumbs from what he had just eaten. However, he was still quite hungry.

"C-Could… I have more of it please?" Vanitas asked quietly, almost begging.

"Of course you can! We have plenty. You looked real hungry so eat up. My mom and dad won't mind," Ventus answered with a friendly smile.

Vanitas sighed with relief before reaching into the box to grab another handful of crackers. He started to eat again while Ventus watched him curiously. He had never seen someone so eager to eat a bunch of crackers. But Ventus remembered that Vanitas did say that he was hungry. As Ventus watched, he also took a good look at Vanitas. It was only then that he noticed how worn out and tattered Vanitas's clothes were.

"Vani, why are your clothes all messy?"

"Hmm?" Vanitas tried to ask, but it came out muffled due to the crackers shoved into his mouth.

"Was it cause you were sleeping out in the park? Or something like that?" Ventus asked, his voice full of curiosity.

The sound of crackers being crumpled and squished suddenly stopped as Vanitas looked at Ventus intently. He had finally heard what Ventus had asked of him, and he tensed up slightly. "Umm… I… they just were like that…" he said nervously, trying to avoid the subject.

"I know they were like that. But why? You don't have time to change or somethin'?" Ven asked another question, his curiosity becoming more evident.

Vanitas's hands began to quiver slightly, knowing the answer to that, but he did not want to say. "I just… really don't wanna say…"

"Aww, but we're friends now right? You can tell me anything. I won't tell anyone."

"Well, I… I just…" Vanitas started with a shaky voice before trailing off silently, unable to finish what he was saying.

His whimpers started back up again as he backed up against one of the cabinets in the kitchen and slid down to the floor. The room was feeling a whole lot smaller and tighter than before. Vanitas brought his knees up to his chest and held them together with his arms locked around them, bowing his head against them. His whimpers turned into sobs. He knew full well what had happened, and he hated it. He just wished it hadn't happened at all. He didn't want to think about it.

Ventus looked on as a worried look spread across his face. "Um… uh, what did I say Vani? Are you okay? I-I'm sorry if I said something wrong," Ven started, not really knowing what to say to him at the moment, hoping that his apologizing for whatever happened would be enough.

However, the sobs continued until Vanitas was fully crying now. Tears could be seen dropping onto his clothes, some trickling down onto the floor as well. Ventus went to place a hand on Vanitas, but then he backed away. He didn't know what to do. He knew he needed help.

He darted out of the kitchen into the doorway. "Mom! Please, I need help!"


	4. Chapter 4

_He darted out of the kitchen into the doorway. "Mom! Please, I need help!"_

Ventus ran out into the hallway, hoping that his words were loud enough to hear. And in fact he could hear the footsteps of his mother running towards him. She rounded the corner and looked at him with a concerned look.

She was a young adult And stood about 2 1/2 times the size of Ventus. Her face was thin, soft and light complected. Her hair was a beautiful ocean blue that fell a little past her chin with a part slightly to the left, with the hair in back ending just below her shoulders. Her eyes match the color of her hair, which made one think they were looking at the clear blue sky.

She wore light colored blue jeans that extended all the way to her ankles, with a pair of light brown half boots covering her feet. A dark blue t-shirt covered her torso area, and over the shirt was a lightweight, purplish-grey sweater, with sleeves ending above her elbows. Wrapped loosely around her neck was a purple scarf, The bright color adding to her overall sweet and kind vibe.

"Ven? What is it? What's wrong?" Ven's mother asked, looking over her son to make sure he was all right.

"I-It's Vanitas. I think… I think I asked him too much and I upset him. I really upset him and I don't know what to do," Ventus said, trying not to start crying himself.

"Vanitas? Who's that?" his mother asked slowly, trying to understand what the situation was. Her deep blue eyes focused on her son.

"He's my… my newest friend. And… And I think I made him upset," Vanitas replied.

"Where is he now?" she asked, a serious expression falling over her face.

"He's in the kitchen, and he's really, really crying," Ventus replied, frowning slightly. "I'm sorry…"

Ventus's mother sighed and gave a smile before she placed a hand on her son's head. "It's okay Ven. Don't worry too much about it. I'm here, and I am glad you told me to come. Now let's go see your friend."

Ventus watched as his mother walked forward into the kitchen and looked for the crying boy. She found him up against the cabinet, sobbing intensely. From once glance, she could tell something was odd about this child. His clothes looked far too worn and old, and the boy's hair seemed to be a tangled mess.

" _He couldn't be a friend from Ven's school could he? Ven seems like he just met the boy recently, so it may not be that. I'm just surprised that he brought some random boy home without checking with me first. Hmm… just who could this Vanitas be?'_ she thought to herself.

She took a few steps closer and Vantias's head shot up and stared at her. She blinked with surprise upon seeing the boys golden colored eyes. It was a color that she had never seen before for someone's eyes, which did interest her. But, the look of those eyes is what made her worried. The pain and sadness that radiated through his eyes and the look that he gave her told her what she needed to know. But she had to find out something first.

"Give me just a couple of minutes and I will be back okay? I promise you'll be taken care of," she said to Vanitas in a soft caring voice, which brought a look of shock to the black-haired boy's eyes.

She turned from him and grabbed Ventus by the hand gently. "Come with me into the living room real quick. I just need to ask you something."

Ventus agreed hesitantly, hoping that Vanitas would be okay by himself for a moment. His mother led him into the room and right around the corner, sitting him down on the couch. She knelt down in front of him and got close, her eyes meeting his as she sported a serious look on her face. Ventus hoped that he was not in trouble.

"Um… I'm not in trouble am I?" he asked with an almost shaky voice.

"No, you're not in trouble Ven. I just want to ask you something. Where did you find that boy? And keep your voice down too."

Ventus started. "Well, I was at the park and he was laying there. His clothes looked wet and he was shaking and looked kinda rough, so I was trying to be nice. He then told me he was really hungry so I wanted to help. I hope that was okay…" he trailed off and hung his head, afraid of what his mother might say.

She placed a hand under his chin and lifted his head up to hers. "It's okay Ven, you did fine. I did teach you to help others of course. As did your father. But I think I understand now, just from looking at him."

"You do? Well what is it?"

She paused slightly, almost not wanting to say it herself. "I think… that he has no place to go. From the look of him, he's been on the streets. I'm not sure what happened to him, but his eyes showed he was lonely and sad."

"Wait what?! But why would he-"

"Shhh. I told you to not get loud," she quieted him, placing a hand over his mouth.

After a couple seconds, she removed her hand from his mouth as he stayed silent. She then continued. "Ven let me ask you. Did you start asking him too many questions? You said that you think you made him upset right? Tell me the truth."

"I mean, I was just wondering about where he was from and why his clothes were like they were and why his hair was messed up and-"

"I thought I told you don't pry like that," she said sternly to him as she wagged a finger in his face. "If the situation is like I'm thinking, then he probably does not wish to talk about it because it is painful. You have to be more considerate okay? Now, we are going to go back to him and help. I want you to go prepare a bath for him and then come tell me when it's ready okay?"

"But, will I be able to play with him some though?" Ventus asked with a curious tone.

"We will have to see what happens. Just go and do that and then come back to me after. This is another way of helping him right?"

Ventus lit up at the sound of that. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Okay then!" he exclaimed a bit more loudly, before running out of the room.

He got to the kitchen door and looked towards Vanitas. "Hey, it's okay. We're gonna help you." He didn't wait for a response from the amber-eyed boy as he ran off towards the back of the house and up a flight of stairs towards the bathroom area.

After his footsteps had faded up to the second floor, she walked back into the kitchen and saw Vanitas was staring at the door, most likely after Ventus who had just spoken to him. She noticed that his gaze then fell on her, but she couldn't make out exactly what he was thinking by just that. She strode up to him and knelt down in front of him, and gave him a big, warm smile.

"Hey, Vanitas. Is it okay that I call you that? I think it's a lovely name. My name's Aqua. I'm Ven's mother. It's nice to meet you," she spoke softly with a kind voice.

Vanitas stared with wide eyes at her. His entire body froze up as soon as she got close to him. Though even with being as still as a board, his breathing was increasing, and his eyes were watering. He eventually let out a small whimper as he tried to squeeze his legs closer against his chest. After a few seconds, he started to shake his head slowly. He wished he could have moved and ran away, but he was too fearful of what could happen if he tried that.

Aqua looked at Vanitas with a concerned look. She didn't know why he was starting to freak out just by her presence, but she felt that since he was okay around Ven but not her, maybe it had something to do with her being older. She then moved and sat down on the floor in front of Vanitas, letting her arms down and crossing her legs indian style, trying to show that she was open.

"Hey it's okay. Look, I think I understand. It's all right if you're afraid. I won't pressure you. If you don't want to talk to me then that's okay. But I do want to help you. Ventus is making a bath for you right now so that we can get you cleaned up. And I have some dry clothes for you too. If you would like that," she said, awaiting to see if the boy would respond to her.

Vanitas quickly moved his head up and nodded at that, but still chose not to speak. This adult was being friendly with him. It didn't seem right. All the other adults only ignored him. Why was she talking to him and wanting to be around him? Vanitas couldn't seem to understand it. Though the more he thought about it, he started to come to some sort of answer.

" _Maybe 'cause she is Ven's mom? That's why she is nice?"_ Vanitas thought to himself as he eyes Aqua with heavy suspicion.

As he tried to think more, another coughing fit overtook him. He shuddered as not only was the coughing rough, but the chills were sent through his body again. He let out another whimper. He hated feeling this sick. He wished he could get better, but he wasn't sure how. Then his eyes widened a little as he turned to Aqua. He started to realize that even though she was an adult, she might just be able to help him feel better. He thought especially since she was being so apparently nice to him, that she would want to help him.

Aqua's deep blue eyes fixated on Vanitas and wore a concerned expression. "You sound sick. It must be those wet clothes huh? I did see you nod earlier. If you will allow me, can I take you to get a bath? We'll get you out of those clothes and get you warm and dry okay?"

She hoped that she was not pressuring him too much, but she was trying her best to be easy. However, Vanitas needed to get better and out of what he was in, and she knew it. She just kept smiling at him and extended a hand, hoping that he would be able to realize what she was doing and accept the help.

Vanitas stared at her hand, nearly expecting something else to happen. But the longer he stared, everything remained the same. Aqua only sat there, waiting patiently. Even though he was worried, Vantias kept looking into Aqua's eyes. They were not full of hate or disgust. They only were sweet and kind. With a slight hesitation, Vanitas reached out and placed his hand on top of Aqua's.

His hand was mildly cool to Aqua's, which told her that he definitely needed some care. She looked at him with a warm smile as she slowly moved her other hand and placed it over Vanitas's. She just wanted him to be comfortable and make him aware that things would be okay.

He was startled just for a brief moment and almost wavered, but then he finally peered up again and met her gaze. Her soft look that she was giving him allowed him to relax a little bit more, releasing some of the tension that he had been holding onto. His whimpers had nearly stopped now as he tried to understand what was going on.

"Y-You… care?" he started with a bit of a raspy breath, his words coming out shakily.

"Of course I would care. People have to help each other. It's only natural," Aqua started with a calm voice.

After a brief pause, she continued. "Now, come on and let's get you what you need okay?" she suggested now, motioning with her head that it was okay and indicating they should stand up.

Vanitas kept eyeing her curiously after she had spoken her words. Someone else wanted to help him? The day had been full of things that he never thought that he would have. He couldn't help but be skeptical, but the fact that this woman was willing to go out of her way to help someone like him what's currently beyond his comprehension. But it was a nice change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that we are back on track with these uploads, Aqua is now here! Yay for that.   
> We hope you guys are enjoying and hope to see you next time!


	5. Chapter 5

Vanitas had continued to stare at her for just a few more seconds. Nothing seemed to change or go wrong though. So, he only nodded in agreement and allowed her to help him stand. She kept her hand with his and held it, making sure that he felt comfortable as they started to walk out of the kitchen and towards the back of the house. He thought that it should be no different than Ventus leading him earlier.

They soon got to the stairs, which seemed quite a way up to the small boy. Aqua waited for him though, making sure that he was able to ascend each step without issue. Soon they were at the top of the stairs finally, and water could be heard running, but then suddenly it turned off. They walked a bit farther until they stopped in front of an open door. Inside Vanitas could see it was a nice and clean bathroom. Ventus was in the room, next to the large white tub, and turned around to smile.

"I filled up the tub. Nice and hot, I didn't forget," Ventus said, keeping his large smile across his face.

"Thank you Ven, you can wait outside for now, I am going to help Vanitas, okay?"

Ventus nodded. "Okay! See you after your bath Vani! We can have some nice real good food after that!" He then ran out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Vanitas flinched at the sound of the door slamming. He was afraid for a moment something bad was going to happen. But the longer he waited, he saw everything was still the same.

"It's all right Vanitas. I'll help you now," she said as she took off her scarf and rolled up her sleeves on her jacket. "Let's get these clothes off you now."

As she reached her hands towards Vanitas, he could feel and encroaching fear that he had felt before. Before she could completely reach him, he panicked. His hands shot up and swatted Aqua's away, causing a look of perplexion to cross her face, which was then replaced by a solemn look.

She could see the worry in his eyes as she looked back at him. "I'm sorry Vanitas. I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you might need some help, but if you can do it on your own, just tell me okay?" Aqua replied gently and waited for his response.

Vanitas breathed slowly, seeing that Aqua was not going to come close to him anymore if he didn't want her to. He saw that she was a nice adult, but he still had so many feelings of uncertainty inside of him. Even with how nicely she spoke to him, he didn't want to be touched too much. Holding a hand was one thing, that wasn't as bad. But the rest still made him far too worried.

"I… I can do it," Vanitas said before slowly reached to pull off his long sleeved shirt.

"Okay then. You're a big boy that can do things on his own. I'll just sit back and wait then in case you need any help at some point," Aqua explained as she knelt down on the floor and sat there.

Vanitas was unsure of taking off his clothes in front of a stranger, but after mulling it over, he figured that it was okay with Aqua. She was nice and it should be okay. Once he had settled on that, he began to slowly remove his tattered and wet long sleeve first. As he did, something was revealed that Aqua had not expected to see.

She internally gasped to herself, while looking on with a pained expression across her face. The boy's body had several bruises all over, some having festered already and changed colors. In addition, some scrapes were able to be seen across his back and arms mainly. Parts of his skin were reddened and even had some blisters starting to form as well. These were obvious signs of some sort of mistreatment.

Aqua almost teared up. She wanted to just comfort the boy even more now that she had seen that. He had continued to remove the other articles of his clothing, which revealed even more of his skin having similar marks in various places. Who could do such a thing to a child? What even happened to him? These were all questions that Aqua wanted to know at that moment, but she knew better than to try to pressure Vanitas to tell her.

After he was done, he started to avert his gaze back over to her. Upon seeing this, Aqua quickly turned her head away, not wanting Vanitas to know that she had been staring since she did not want to make him any more uncomfortable. Aqua thought for a few seconds of what to do before finally pushing herself up from the floor. She knew she couldn't do this alone.

"Hey, um… I see you're done now. I'll take those clothes for you and have some new ones ready for you. Do you need help washing your hair or anything?" Aqua asked him, this time her voice a bit more quiet, trying to hide her uneasiness that she was feeling.

Vanitas shook his head again. "N-No… I can do it." He already knew how to wash his hair, that wasn't the issue. It was the issue that Aqua had asked him if she could help. He had never once been asked if someone wanted to help wash his hair. He always had done it on his own for as long as he could remember.

"All right, well if you need anything, just call for me okay?" Aqua said as she stood up.

"Okay…" Vanitas said as he walked closer to the tub and placed his hand in it. "Ah! It's too hot."

"It has to be," Aqua said softly. "A nice warm bath helps when you have a cold. It may feel a bit hot at first, but I know it is not going to hurt you." She placed one of her hands into the tub, as if to prove her point. "Hmm just as warm as it needs to be. Trust me, you will get used to it in no time, and you will feel better."

Vanitas looked back and forth between the tub of water and the blue-haired mother a few times. He dipped his hand in the water once again, jerking it back before putting it back again until finally he was able to rest it in there. Suddenly, it didn't seem too bad, though it was still warmer than he had felt in a while. That was probably because he had a cold already.

"O-Okay then. I'll try," he said slowly, deciding to trust Aqua with what he had been told and hoping that he could feel better.

He placed one foot in, taking it out a few times before his limb adjusted to the change in temperature. Then he repeated the same process with each part of his body until he was fully down in the water. He winced at first, the hot water seemed to be a bit much. But after a few seconds, he acclimated and slightly relaxed. Aqua had been right after all.

She just smiled. "See I told you. All right then. Now, soap and body wash are over there on the counter, right next to the tub," Aqua explained before pointing to where she meant. "There also is a little rubber chocobo toy you can play with if you want to. Anyways, I won't be too far away and will be just outside if you need me," she spoke to Vanitas as she opened the door and exited the room, making sure to close it back softly behind her.

Once it was closed, she exhaled heavily. She wanted to keep an eye on Vanitas, but she knew he would rather prefer some space. Her mind kept drifting though to what she had seen. It was not an image that could easily leave her mind. Those injuries… those scars… it was an awful sight to see.

" _He couldn't have gotten those from being on his own… they aren't from falling down or tripping. No… they are worse than that. I think… I think I am finally understanding. The poor child. I have to help him. I will not let him go back out into the world alone if that is his fate. I just… I need to-"_

"Mom?" Ventus's voice asked, snapping Aqua from her thoughts.

Aqua looked down to see Ventus staring up at her, with his big, curious eyes. "You okay?"

Aqua nodded to her son. "Yes, I am fine, I was just lost in thought."

"Is Vani all right?"

"Yes, he is taking his bath now, so let's just give him some space, okay?" Aqua asked.

Ventus nodded quickly. "Okay, I understand."

Aqua then kneeled down to Ventus's eye level. "Ven, I can't tell you everything right now. But I think Vanitas might have to stay with us for a while." She made sure to lower her voice so Vanitas would not overhear them through the door.

Ventus scrunched up his face in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean? Like he can sleepover?"

Aqua held her breath for a moment, considering how to phrase it to her young son. "Yes, it would be like that. But there are some reasons for it, but I can't tell you now. But I want you to know that I will take care of it. You understand?"

"I think so. I know you have the right answers, so I believe you mom," Ventus replied.

"Good," Aqua said, standing back up. "Now I am going to call your father and then I will need a pair of your clothes for Vanitas. You think you can pick out a nice outfit for him?"

Ventus nodded. "Yeah! I will go do that!" He then ran off towards his room, excited at the idea of picking out a new outfit for his new best friend.

Aqua smiled before she turned to head back downstairs. Once she was down there, she walked to pick up her cellphone, which she had last left on the kitchen table. When she picked it up, she right away started to dial in the number she needed to call. After the number was set, all she had to do was wait as it began to ring. She could only hope that he was not too busy at work so she could easily relay to him the news.

Thankfully he picked up after three rings. " _Aqua? What's up?"_

Aqua was about to start off her story, but she noticed something from the voice of her husband. He sounded slightly out of breath, though she knew his work was not all that taxing. "Zack… are you doing your squats routine at work again?"

" _Yeah? I'm on my lunch break right now, so why wouldn't I be?"_ Zack answered in an honest tone, as if it was odd to question it.

Aqua sighed before laughing softly. "I always want to make sure."

" _You know you can trust me Aqua, I wouldn't do anything like that. But what did you call about anyways? Something come up?"_

"Yeah… Something happened today and," Aqua stopped for a moment, finding her words for the situation. "There's this kid, and-"

" _There's going to be a kid?!"_ Zack shouted suddenly, startling Aqua. " _We're going to have a kid?"_

Aqua sighed, biting her lip slightly. "No Zack I-"

" _Oh Aqua! I can't believe this! This is great! I can't believe we are going to finally have a kid of our own!"_

Aqua pressed her free hand to her face, feeling the blood starting to rush up to her cheeks. She loved Zack, but sometimes he got far to energetic to listen correctly.

"No! No nonono! Zack LISTEN!" Aqua quickly shouted. "Honey… we aren't having a kid."

Zack's happy rambles came to a screeching halt. " _Wait… What?"_

"I said, we aren't _having_ a kid. I said there is _this_ kid, but you didn't get to let me finish."

" _Oh…"_ Zack responded. " _I see… sorry I got carried away."_

Aqua bit her lip again. She hated when Zack sounded sad, like that. She knew it was just him doing his 'sad puppy' routine, but it hurt her to hear him so disheartened. "Well how about… we aren't having a kid… yet."

" _I'm going to hold you to that then!"_ Zack replied, switching right out of his 'sad puppy' mode and right back into his usually 'happy energetic puppy' mode.

Aqua sighed internally. " _I guess next time I should remember to choose my words more carefully."_

"Anyways," Aqua started off, focusing back on what was important. "Ventus brought home a new friend today after playing in the park. But something seemed odd…"

" _Odd? How so?"_

"Ventus asked him a lot of questions, and apparently he broke down crying. When I went to try and talk to him, he almost seemed afraid of me," Aqua began to explain.

" _Afraid of you? How could any child ever be afraid of the sweetest woman in the word,"_ Zack replied sweetly.

"Thanks Zack, but I know it seemed strange. But something clearly made him upset… and it only further made sense when he went to take a bath."

Aqua breathed in, waiting to see if Zack had anything to add to it, but he remained quiet. He knew that whatever this was, that it was something quite serious. From that, Aqua exhaled again and went on to explain the rest.

"Zack… this boy, Vanitas, he… I think he ran away from an abusive family. He had bruises and scars on his body, and if I add that with his being initially afraid of me, it makes sense…"

" _Oh, that's terrible to hear. How bad off is it? Like do we need to bring him to a hospital or anything?"_

"He isn't in that bad of condition. From what I can gather he has been on his own for some time. His clothes were a bit torn and wet, most likely from yesterday's rain. I think he also may have a cold, so I am going to do what I can to help him feel better."

Zack laughed happily. " _That's my Aqua, always being the best and going out of her way to help others."_

"Thanks Zack. I just wanted to let you know though. So, you know, you don't start questioning why there is a second little boy in our house."

" _Well I'm glad that you called me at least. Maybe I can get off early here if possible. But I know you'll take care of it all until I'm there."_

"Yeah, I've got it for now. It should be-" she stopped, listening intently. After a few seconds, she heard what she thought to be Vanitas from the bathroom.

" _Are you okay Aqua?"_ Zack asked on the other end of the line.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I think I just heard the boy though. So I am going to check on him. I'll see you at home then."

" _All right then. My lunch break is nearly over anyways so I'll see you then. Love you."_

"Love you too dear. See you soon," she finished as she clicked the phone once to end the call.

Aqua held the phone down to her side and closed her eyes for a moment. She allowed a large, exasperated sigh to escape her lips and leaned up against the wall. This was just a lot to handle so suddenly. She worried what they were going to do with Vanitas. As she stood still, deep in her thoughts for a bit, she knew they had to make it work somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah poor Vanitas has been through some stuff. We won't be detailing things, but the implications are there. But now Vanitas is in good hands :)


	6. Chapter 6

Vanitas sat in the tub after Aqua had closed the door for a while, just staring at the wall that was in front of him with a blankness in his eyes. The water was indeed hot to his small body, especially when he shifted and different parts of his body that were encompassed by the air would get wet. But after a few seconds of soaking, it wasn't as bad as he thought it was initially. It had felt like so long since he had actually gotten a proper shower, he almost did not know what to think.

There was still much to process about what had been happening. " _Is this really real? I never thought someone would actually help me. What should I do? I get scared sometimes. They're all nice. But… I don't want it to be like… them… "_ He shuddered at the thought of his past, memories of how he had gotten there surfacing, bringing tears to his eyes that dissolved quickly when they impacted the water below.

He tried to just focus on the current scene, however, and enjoy what he had before him. He looked over at the rubber chocobo that Aqua had mentioned. It had been a while since he had ever been able to play with a toy too. He squeezed it, listening to it as it made the familiar ' _Wark'_ sound. A small smile escaped his lips, unbeknownst to anyone else. He kept playing with the toy for a good few minutes before finally getting the soap and bathing himself.

Though, the bruises and scars did make it hard for him to wash in some places, so he had to be careful. They hurt. They really hurt. The hot water touching some of the places on his back was almost scalding, making him tear up again.

"Ouch! It… hurts…" Vanitas allowed a yelp to escape him as he bumped the side of the tub, making some noise.

Maybe he should have gotten Aqua to help him. But he was still too afraid, and thought he could do it on his own. He had been used to being on his own for so long now that it was almost nothing to him. Something as simple as a bath was not a task that he needed help with. Or so he thought. It was simple indeed; but, to Vanitas, it was a big deal at the time.

He tried to just go slowly though so that he could alleviate some of the pain over time. After a few minutes, he seemed to have gotten most of himself washed that he knew of. But he wanted to dry off those spots, as the water was still hurting them.

He looked around and saw that the towel was over on the counter, which was just out of reach of the tub. He thought that he could get it by himself and figured that he would try. As he extended his arm to reach, pain shot up his back through some of the scarring that he had, causing him to nearly fall as he made another bump on the tub, the echo spreading through the bathroom.

The next thing he heard though almost surprised him. "Vanitas! I thought I heard something. Did you need help?" Aqua spoke just loud enough so that he could hopefully hear on the other side, which he did.

He had never even heard her footsteps, though he had not been paying attention in the first place. Did he really need her help? He was struggling with getting what he needed, but he also figured that she would enter the room regardless.

As he was leaning over the tub towards the counter, he tried to give her an answer. "Y-Yeah…" At least that was what he was trying to say. It actually came out as a struggle, as he was not even sure what sound it was.

On the other side, Aqua bent her ear close to the door so that she could hear. Faintly, she was able to detect a noise that almost sounded like a 'yes'. Having no accurate idea if he actually had said that, she figured she would check on him anyways.

"Okay, I'm coming in to check on you okay?" she spoke to him as she turned the knob to open the door slowly.

Vanitas was leaning over the tub, trying to reach a towel that had been laid out for him. As he was stretching out for it, he slipped on the wetness of the tub. However, Aqua had already been in motion and caught him just before he hit the wooden floor.

"Are you all right?" Aqua asked quickly and worriedly as she held Vanitas just above the floor.

Vanitas was held there for a few seconds before realizing that he had been caught. As he laid there in Aqua's arms, a slight panic ensued. He still was not comfortable with being touched often, much less held, especially by someone that he barely knew. He started to shake slightly and tried to get out of Aqua's arms quickly.

"Hey what's wrong? It's all right Vanitas, you're okay. You're not hurt at least."

"But I don't… scared of you holding me. I don't… wanna be hurt…"

Aqua's heart skipped a beat. "Please don't worry about that," she pleaded as she laid her head down on him. "I won't hurt you. Nobody here will. I won't let anything happen to you ever again. You'll be safe."

Those last words came out dry and shaky as her eyes started to well up with tears. She still could not believe that someone would have hurt and damaged a kid like that. She barely knew him, but her compassion told her to protect him no matter what.

Vanitas started to see that he might not be in any danger at all. Though he was still wary of people in general, especially adults, he had this instinct in that moment that he could trust Aqua. Part of him still wanted to fight back against it, but amid the confusion in his mind, he was able to calm down and just relax, allowing himself to just be held. He didn't utter another word at the time though.

Aqua felt his relaxation and picked up her head to look at him again. Her soft blue eyes pierced his own. "I'm glad you're more calm now," she warmly smiled at him. "Though, we probably need to get you a towel so that you're covered up okay?"

She helped him turn upward until his feet were planted back on the floor. He just stood there and looked at her, never taking his eyes off of her once. She grabbed the towel that he had been reaching for and wrapped it around him to allow him to be a bit more dry.

"I can let you dry off if you want? Or I can help you. Your choice. Whatever makes you more comfortable," Aqua suggested to him, waiting to see if he would respond.

Vanitas clutched the towel that was now around his body. So much uncertainty filled inside of him. His thoughts kept swaying back and forth towards how he felt about Aqua. Could he trust her or not? There was too much doubt to make a solid answer on the matter. At least there was too much right now.

He shook his head. "I… I think I will be fine. I can… I can do it."

Aqua wanted to help him do it herself, but she wanted to give him space if he still needed it. "Okay then, I will let you be a big boy then. But I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here for you if you need something," she spoke with kindness and backed away towards the wall.

Vanitas watched her with wary eyes, but he saw that she was only going to sit against the wall. She did not move anywhere else or say anything more. With seeing that she wasn't going to bother him, he started to dry himself off more. Eventually there was a knock on the door, causing Vanitas to flinch.

Aqua opened it up, but it was just Ventus, carrying a pile of clothes in his hands. "I picked out a really good outfit for you Vani! Just wait till you see it!"

Ventus ran over to him and placed the clothes on a nearby stool. He then held up the t-shirt so Vanitas could see it. It was a black t-shirt, but it had a design in the center of it. There was a yellow cartoony chocobo, and on its head was a cactuar, and finally on top of that was a cheerful moogle.

"This is one of my favorite shirts! But I really want you to wear it. I also think you would really like it. Cause moogles, cactuars, and chocobos are really fun. You like them right?" Ventus said, talking rather fast.

Vanitas could only blink slowly. No words could come to his mouth as he stared at the shirt with the fun little design on it. Ventus continued to hold it out to him though, so Vanitas reached out and took it.

"Th… Thanks…" Vanitas whispered as he looked down at the shirt. "Is it… really okay though? To have this? You said it's your favorite."

"I want you to have it. You gotta have some nice clothes to wear, and that is a nice shirt!" Ventus replied cheerfully.

Soft giggles could be heard from Aqua, who still sat in the corner of the room.

Ventus then gave Vanitas the remainder of the clothes. "There are some pants here too for you. Since you were cold, I thought it would help. I hope you like them!"

"Well it seems like Ven is really excited to help you Vanitas," Aqua said cheerfully as she patted the blonde-headed bundle of joy on the head.

Vanitas exchanged glances between the two of them. They both seemed extremely satisfied with helping him, though he still did not quite understand why. While he may be skeptical, he was not going to deny the kindness they had shown him. After all, it's what he had wanted to happen for a while. Without another word, he proceeded to slip off the towel and try to change into some clothes.

And that was when Ventus noticed.

The various marks on Vanitas's body… Ventus hadn't noticed them before. In fact he didn't even know they were there at all. Was that why Vanitas was wearing long clothes on a nice warm day? Or was it really all he had? Ventus stared a bit more, trying to figure it out. He was trying to understand why Vanitas would have such marks, but no good solid answer would come to his little 6-year-old mind.

" _Did he fall and trip a lot? But they aren't like when I trip and fall. They look different… what does it mean?"_ Ventus wondered to himself.

Ventus started to have so many questions form in his head. He opened his mouth, ready to ask, when he looked to his mother. The look she gave him was enough to remind him not to ask. From how she looked at him, it was telling him that he should not ask Vanitas about the marks on his skin. It was probably something that Vantias wouldn't want to talk about anyways.

Soon, Vanitas had put on all of the clothes he had been given. They were a perfect fit too, considering he and Ventus were nearly the same size. The clothes were warm, and they smelled fresh and nice. He basked in the aroma and the feel of clean clothes for the first time in a while. Instantly, he started to feel a bit better, though still wary.

"Do you like the clothes, Vani?" a curious Ventus asked.

Vanitas peered up and nodded at him. "Y-Yeah… thank you."

"Yay!"

Aqua gave a small chuckle again. "Okay then. Well Vanitas, let's go get you some warm soup then to try to help you get over that cold. I hope it will help."

"But…" Vanitas finally added. He looked at the shirt he was wearing. He really did like it… but it had short sleeves. He could easily see the bruises on his arms… and so could Ventus and Aqua. He ran his hands over them gently, wishing they would go away.

"Something wrong Vanitas?" Aqua asked, looking at the boy.

"I don't want… my arms… I wanna hide the… the…" he trailed off, trying to hold back the tears that wished to run from his eyes.

"We can give you a light jacket to wear if you want," Aqua suggested. "That way you don't have to take off your new shirt. How does that sound?"

"O-Okay… I think that's good," Vanitas agreed.

"I'll go grab one," Ventus shouted before bolting out of the bathroom again.

Aqua laughed. "I've never seen him so excited. You know he is really happy to have you as his friend. Now, let's head down to the kitchen so we can get that soup started for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aqua is such a sweat mother and of course her son is just the same XD  
> Hope you all enjoyed so far!!


	7. Chapter 7

A nice aroma filled the kitchen as Aqua had just finished with the soup she was making for Vanitas. It had taken her a little longer because Ventus had wanted a bowl as well because he wanted to eat with his new friend. Soon, she finally carried their respective bowls to them, The conducive smell of chicken and vegetables illuminating the air around them.

"Ah thanks mom!" Ventus chimes in as he hurriedly dipped the spoon in to gather some soup.

"Ow! Tha hot."

"Well of course, it just finished. You have to take it slowly," his mother reminded him, trying to hide a laugh.

Vanitas only stared at the bowl, watching as the steam arose from it and filled the air around his face. It was quite warm, though not quite as warm as the bath water he had just left only a few minutes previously. He then slowly Took his spoon and dipped it in before then stuffing inside of his mouth. Hey look of surprise came up on his face, the heat being a little bit more than what he had expected. Not knowing what to do, he swallowed it, which made the burn go all the way down his throat into his stomach.

"Ahhh!" he yelped softly.

"Oh Vanitas are you alright? I told Ven it was hot, so I thought you would know better too," Aqua went to his side as she was concerned

A few seconds passed of Vanitas coughing a bit. "It's okay. I'm… good. It's good… and warm."

Aqua breathed a sigh of relief before then walking off from the boys and started to clean up the area where she had cooked. The two of them proceeded to eat their food and silence, Vanitas quickly eating his despite the heat. It wasn't long after that before a door was heard being opened, followed by a boisterous voice.

"Hello! I'm home! Now where's my blue-headed angel?"

The boys noticed that their mother was startled slightly, and upon her turning, they noticed her face was slightly red. Ventus almost face-palmed, but instead just breathed a large sigh. Vanitas, on the other hand, looked at Aqua for a brief moment before the allure of the food had his attention once more.

As the two boys continued with their food, Aqua quickly shifted herself and marched out of the kitchen in a huff of embarrassment. She walked out of the door of the kitchen and turned right towards the living area where the front door was, where she saw her tall, spiky-black-headed husband.

"You always have to do something like that, don't you?"

"Ah come on Aqua, I'm just being myself here," Zack chimed in as he laughed.

She started to scowl at him, but then just returned the smile that he was offering. It was hard for her to ever be in a bad mood around him, especially since he was always so upbeat. To her, it was a good relief considering all that had happened that day. She was worried about so much, but just having Zack with her now made her feel so much better.

Aqua then started. "Zack I-"

"I know… I can look and tell that you're worried," he said in a more serious and direct tone as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

They both stared at one another for a bit, and then the positive mental attitude returned. "It'll be all right," his voice changed back into his normal, relaxed tone. "Now, you gonna introduce me then to him?"

The request startled Aqua, who was still just focusing on Zack. "Uh, oh, yeah yeah. Just… make sure you're not too overbearing. He's not too fond of people."

Zack just chuckled. "It's fine. Don't you worry, I'll be subtle." He then walked away from Aqua and towards the kitchen and rounded the corner.

"Subtle? I don't think you know the word," Aqua muttered silently behind him as she followed right behind.

Upon entering into the kitchen, the boys looked up from their food. Just as Vanitas laid eyes on the tall, black-headed man, Ventus bolted upright suddenly, which startled Vanitas.

"Dad!" the blonde screamed as he ran as hard as he could into his father's leg.

"Hey, there's my little man! How've you been today?" Zack asked as he placed a hand on Ventus's head and ruffled his hair, making it look more messy than it already did.

"I made a new friend! His name is Vanitas, but I am calling him Vani!"

Vanitas sank down, trying to hide himself. He didn't want the attention drawn to him. A new adult was in the room, and he had his feeling of fear and doubt all over again. Though he saw how friendly Ventus was with this man. It was just like how he was with Aqua. This was clearly Ventus's father, but even knowing that fact made him nervous.

He used the time to get a better look at the man called Zack though. He seemed to be quite tall, as he noticed that he stood quite a bit taller than Aqua. His hair was long, black, and spiky, all of it going in one direction towards the back, save for one sprig that fell across the front of his face.

In fact, his hair reminded Vanitas of his own, even though his hair was shorter and a bit more spiky in every direction. His eyes, like Aqua and Ventus's, were a shade of blue, but it seemed Zack's were slightly lighter in color. Zack was well-dressed too, his attire consisting of a white button down shirt that was tucked into a pair of slim, black dress pants. His feet were covered by some black shoes as well.

Vanitas was caught staring though as Zack looked his way, to which Vanitas quickly ducked down until his head was almost under the table.

"Hey now, you don't have to hide like that. I won't bite," Zack explained in a more calmed and quieter tone than before, trying to remember Aqua's words of advice.

Vanitas didn't move from his spot. He stayed perfectly still, but kept a close eye on Zack from his new hiding spot under the table. There was too much fear running through Vanitas's body to make him ease up. Even if it seemed that Zack was being nice, too many memories were rushing back to Vanitas, making him too afraid.

"Vani? You don't gotta hide under the table. Zack is a great dad. Just come say hi," Ventus said as he walked closer to the table.

Vanitas shook his head back and forth, and continued to stay quiet. He just really did not feel comfortable enough to try to speak to Zack, let alone be near him.

As Ventus continued to try to convince Vanitas, he heard his father's voice. "Ventus, don't bother Vanitas like that. It's okay. If he doesn't want to be seen right now, then it will come later."

He then bent down and looked at Vanitas. "Just wanted to tell you that you are welcome here as long as you want. Don't worry, I won't bother you much. I know you'll come around when you feel like it. It was good meeting you," he spoke with sincerity, his words remaining there with Vanitas.

Zack was fighting against himself and his urges to try to be who he was and try to help Vanitas to get better with his own positive methods. But he did as Aqua had told him, and he saw that Vanitas was scared and apprehensive. He didn't want to push the boy too much, so he held back.

"Well, I'm going to change now. It's been a long day," he spoke to Aqua before heading off upstairs.

Aqua nodded her head slowly as Zack rushed out of the room. They heard his footsteps as he ascended the stairs, seconds later they heard the door closed. She then turned her eyes to Vanitas. She approached the table slowly and crouched down so she could better see Vanitas.

"Are you ready to come out from under there?" Aqua made sure to ask in a slow and calm voice, not wanting to upset Vanitas more than he already did.

"Is he gone?" Vanitas asked quietly.

"He's gone up stairs for now, you won't have to see him now. Do you want to finish your soup?"

Vanitas bobbed his head before crawling out from under the table. He pushed himself back up until he was sitting in the chair again. Ventus walked back and sat back down next to him. He stared at Vanitas, who was now slowly drinking his soup. The encounter with Zack had left him confused. His dad was the best dad in the world, how could anyone be scared of him.

" _Hmm well I guess maybe cause he is so friendly that can be a bit scary. Like how mom says he's a puppy. Dogs can be scary sometimes even if they are being friendly."_

"Hey Vani," Ventus asked. "Why were you scared of my dad?"

Vanitas put down the spoon, but he didn't look away from his soup. He frowned heavily while shaking his head.

Ventus scrunched up his nose, trying to understand what Vanitas was thinking. "Is something wrong? You'll get used to dad soon. He is fun and really nice!"

Vanitas just shook his head again. His body composure shifted and he frowned even more. He still didn't speak, but his grip around the spoon was tightening. Aqua took note of this and saw he was still not ready to talk about anything yet.

Walking over to Ventus, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ven, remember what I said. If he doesn't want to talk about it, you do not keep asking him."

Now it was Ventus's turn frown, sad he caused his mother to use a strict tone with him. "Sorry mom."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to Ven," his mother responded curtly.

Venuts nodded as he sighed. He looked to Vantias, and smiled slightly. "I'm sorry Vani if I made you sad."

The tension in Vanitas's body loosened up slightly. He finally turned to face Ventus and nodded. "It's okay…"

Ventus's smile grew larger. "Now let's finish the soup! Then we can go play! I wanna show you all the toys I got. It will be a lot of fun."

Soon, the boys finally finished their food, and Ventus took his bowl and collected the bowl from Vanitas and placed it in the sink. Ventus skipped happily back over to Vanitas and looked him straight in the eyes. "So you wanna come and play now then?"

Vanitas stared for a moment before giving his answer. "Um… yeah, that sounds… fun."

Ventus almost pulled at Vanitas's arm, before he remembered not to do that. He allowed Vanitas to get up under his own power as he led the way. He exited the kitchen as Vanitas followed and they began their climb up the stairs. Their footsteps were heard for a few seconds before they tapered off and the door slammed shut to Ven's room.

Aqua heard it and breathed in and then out heavily with a sigh. She stood there for a few more moments in mental debate. Even though Vanitas seemed like a decent boy, there were still far too many concerns that she had with him.

What if his parents came looking for him? What if he was actually lying? Though, Aqua seriously doubted that it was a lie, but the thought did occur. What if they end up not being able to provide for him? All of these questions raided her mind, jostling for control in her head.

She tried to not think about the negatives too much, but she couldn't help but worry. Zack surely was not going to worry. He just took life as it comes. A smile adorned her face briefly. She was thankful now that he was home and they could discuss it more. He always seemed to be able to say the right thing anyways to make a situation better.

Aqua shook her head hard, trying to brush off the mental cobwebs. The task at hand was more important right now, so she had to focus back on what she could do in the moment. The future would come later. Now that the boys were gone, she picked up their dishes and placed them in the sink. After that she slowly began walking up the stairs towards the bedroom where Zack was. With the boys playing, it gave her enough time to sort out her thoughts.

She opened the door and closed it behind her. When she scanned the room for her husband, her eyes fell right to the bed. All the worries and fears she currently had faded away once she saw Zack laying on the bed with his arms spread out. His work clothes were off and he now wore a loose dark grey t-shirt and black sweatpants.

Aqua smiled as she walked to the bed and sat down beside him. "Busy day again?"

"A little bit yeah. Nothing I can't handle of course. But it gets exhausting having to deal with an underling who's still learning the ropes," he replied, his eyes staying shut as he spoke.

Aqua reached out and placed a hand on Zack's forehead. She began to gently trace her fingers back and forth. "It's a good thing that you are such a good worker. I know you'll never give up trying to help out."

Zack chuckled mildly as he opened his eyes and glanced towards Aqua. "Yeah, you're right. I'm always willing to help out," he spoke as he slowly sat up from the bed.

"Which reminds me, what are we going to do about the boy? Vanitas was his name, right? I only just met him but I can tell something is off," he added as the smile started to turn into more of a worried and concerned look.

Aqua stopped tracing her fingers along Zack's forehead, warranting him to open his eyes. He could see the concerned look in her eyes. He sat up and scooted closer to her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, I'm here now. We can talk about it. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

Aqua found herself smiling again. This was one of the reasons she loved Zack. He always knew what to say to make her feel better. He had a way with words and it truly helped. Aqua breathed in slowly. "I told you over the phone he had bruises and scars. I didn't ask him of course, but it still bothers me. Then there are just general thoughts and questions I have about him."

Zack found himself in thought. "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Sounds like he hasn't had the best life so far… but we're gonna fix that. Just so long as he's not always scared of me," he chuckled a bit. "I guess I might have been a bit overzealous."

"A bit? Ha, I'm actually surprised you managed to restrain yourself so much. But I agree, I do want to help Vanitas. I really hope we can help him feel better, and give him as much love as he needs."

"Yeah, don't worry Aqua. We will figure it out. Things worked out with Ventus remember? This can as well," Zack added to try and ease things from Aqua's mind. He was determined to do all that he could to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there is the Zack himself! Always the man of energy lol.   
> Thank you all for reading and hope you have enjoyed another chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

Aqua and Zack laid against each other in bed. It was still early evening, but they wanted the time to lay down and think. They wanted to try and understand the situation they were in. The boys were still playing in Ventus's room and they knew the two of them would most likely be there for a while. As Zack ran his fingers up and down Aqua's back, she searched on her phone.

She hummed quietly, scrolling through different articles that she searched up. Finally she closed her phone and placed it on her nightstand. Turning over to her other side, she faced Zack and rested her head against his chest.

"What did you find out?" Zack asked in a soft voice.

"Not much… but what I got is two things…" Aqua started to say. But when she tried to speak again her words faltered and she sighed.

"Take your time if there's a lot to explain. We can take as much time as we need."

"It isn't a lot, but what I found out I guess… makes me feel a bit more worried about the boy," Aqua replied.

She sighed again while Zack went back to moving his fingers up and down her back. A light, relaxing tingling sensation came over her and she smiled. Once again she was glad Zack was here for her and wanting to help. She wasn't sure what she would do without him.

Finally she found the words she had to say. "I looked up first about his eye color. I was wondering if there was something about it. Like if something caused him to be that way. As I read, I remembered how rare and uncommon it is to have an eye color ranging in that golden color."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I know. My boss has an amber-orange color for his eyes. And it's pretty strange to see if you don't already know him."

Aqua moved her head in response, but gave no verbal comment, leading Zack to continue. "So that means he has that rare trait for that eye color, does it mean anything else?"

"Not that I saw, but I was only wondering. What I found next was much more… unsettling…" Aqua breathed in before she continued. "I looked up the origin of his name… and I found out 'Vanitas' is actually a term for a 17th-century Dutch genre that contains… symbols of death or something about a person's inevitably."

Zack's eyes slowly widened. "Oh… I didn't expect it to be something like that."

Aqua's face crumbled. The thoughts she had been containing were starting to seep out. "Why though? Why would someone name their child after such an awful sounding thing? Naming their child after art that represents death? Why!? And on top of that he has those horrible bruises! How… How could someone do that…?"

"I don't really know… that just seems inhuman," Zack trailed off, unsure of what else to say to that revelation.

"If I knew who did that, I would kick their ass so hard for putting such a burden on Vanitas," Aqua huffed, her cheeks beginning to flush with anger.

Zack hurriedly tried to calm her. "Hey now, don't get too upset. We've got to find a way to handle this," he spoke confidently and started to massage Aqua's arm with his hand. "Though, I don't think trying to find his actual parents would be a good idea at this point-"

"No! They don't deserve to have a child if… if that is what they would do," she cut him off sharply.

Zack shifted himself closer to her so that he could embrace her more tightly, trying to ease her worries. He continued to rub her arm gently and felt her body grow more relaxed the longer it went on.

A sigh escaped her lips. "Sorry, Zack. I just, you know how protective I am."

"Yeah, I know. I get it. And you're right. I'm just trying to think…" he spoke as he hummed to himself in thought over what to do.

Suddenly, he had an idea. "Hey. You know how we took Ven in right? What if… we did the same for Vanitas?"

Zack's suggestion threw Aqua off guard. She craned her neck to look at him the best she could. Had she really just heard him right?

"You want us to adopt him?"

"That was the thought I had, yes," Zack affirmed.

Aqua sat up slowly, trying to figure out what to say. "I think… I'd like that. It would only linger in my mind if we were to drop him off somewhere. If we never knew what became of him… No I can't do that. I won't let him stay hurt and alone."

"I'm glad that you agree. Though, the only thing that I am concerned with is the parents."

"Well, since they obviously don't care about their child, I doubt they will care about where he even is. At least he will be in safe hands here." Aqua's retort came quickly and firmly.

Zack looked at her and just smiled. "I can't argue with that. At least we will be able to keep him safe. You know usually what to say," Zack chuckled lightly.

"You know me Zack," Aqua replied. "We're on the same wavelength when it comes to stuff like this. And I am glad for it."

"I guess that we should try to tell the boys then huh? I know that Ven will be excited to hear that."

"Yeah, but how about you go check up on them, and I'll go start dinner," Aqua said as she got off the bed.

Zack nodded in agreement without forming a response. He raised himself off the bed after his wife and started towards the door that she had just opened. She turned left to head down the stairs as Zack stood in front of Ven's room. Zack almost thought about opening the door and surprising them, but he opted against that because of Vanitas and not wanting to jeopardize any progress he had made.

He then slowly knocked on the door and opened it to find a sight he didn't expect to see. Vanitas and Ventus both were on Ven's bed and were laying next to each other, Vanitas huddled up against Ventus tightly. They seemed to be soundly sleeping, which was confirmed when a small snoring noise came from one of them.

Zack smiled and decided that he would wait until dinner was ready to get them up. He would let them rest for now. " _I think it's gonna work out well for them. They already seem to like each other."_ He then eased the door back shut and then headed down towards the stairs to join Aqua in the kitchen.

* * *

The sun had finally set that evening as everyone was just finishing up their food. Aqua and Zack had prepared quite a large meal, wanting to make sure that Vanitas would be able to eat whatever he wanted. The boy had scarfed down everything that was put in front of him with quickness and was still eating whilst the others were cleaning up.

Aqua couldn't help but smile and Zack joined her on that, both of them happy to be able to help Vanitas as much as they could. As they were cleaning up the kitchen, they shared a glance between one another. Zack knew what it was about too. They would bring up _that_ subject together.

Once Vanitas had finished his plate, Aqua collected it and put it in the sink to be dealt with at a later time. There was a more important matter at hand. Zack and Aqua took a seat next to each other, sitting across from Vanitas so that they could keep eye contact with the black-haired boy. Ventus sat right beside his new friend, both of them having looks on their faces as if wondering what was going on.

"Now before we bring out dessert, there is something we want to tell you boys," Aqua said, speaking first.

"Something before dessert? What is it?" Ventus asked.

Aqua gave a smile to her son before looking at Vantias. "While we aren't going to ask where you came from or what happened, we want you to know you are welcome here. And we want you to stay here with us."

Vanitas's eyes widened at her words. "Stay… here? With all of you?"

"Yes, that's what we were hoping for. We know it would take a while to sort things out legally, but we would really like it if you could join our family," Zack replied, offering a warm, friendly smile.

Before Vanitas could answer anything else, Ventus busted out loud after a shocked look crossed his face. "What?! Vani can stay?! Yay!" he exclaimed with hands raised in the air.

The sudden burst of energy and loudness slightly shook Vanitas as he shifted his body partly away from Ventus and shuddered. Aqua shot Ventus a look, as if telling him that he has to be careful of what he does since Vanitas is still trying to cope with what's happened to him. He sank down, but still kept an aura of positivist about him and listened to what came next.

After Vanitas adjusted himself, he decided to try to speak again. "Y-You… mean it? You would actually… want me?"

The hesitation in his voice upon asking that made Aqua's heart sink as Zack looked concerned, both knowing why he would say such a thing. However, it still did pain them to hear it.

"Of course we would want you," Aqua spoke up. "You are precious and we care about you."

Zack wrapped an arm around Aqua. "Yeah, we want you to be treated right, and I- I mean, we will make sure to take care of you."

Vanitas didn't move, or even speak. He was trying to process everything that was happening. " _They… really want me. Nobody has ever really wanted me before."_

He felt far too shocked to say anything out loud, but he felt something within him. He didn't understand it, this new emotion he was feeling. It was like being happy, but different. He didn't know how to explain it, nor how to ask. But he knew it was a good feeling. It felt warm, but also overwhelming at the same time.

Tears began to fall from Vanitas's eyes as he sat there in silent shock after having thought about what was said. He tried to hold back the tears, to hold back the emotions that he was feeling; however, it all barreled out quickly as if a dam had broken. His cries were nothing more than whimpers, but Zack and Aqua both knew that it was not sadness this time, but a feeling of happiness.

Ventus even began to cry, as he was overjoyed with what he had heard. Soon, Aqua could no longer contain herself as she got up and went over to Vanitas. She was about to wrap her arms around him but then remembered that he was still a bit sensitive to being touched. She lowered her head down to where Vanitas could hear her.

"Vanitas. Is it okay if I hug you? I promise it won't hurt."

He didn't move his head, but from the break in his whimpering she heard a faint "mhmm."

She threw her arms around the boy she would soon call son and allowed herself to start crying too. She was happy to be able to help him any way that she could. As she stood over Vanitas, Zack had shuffled around to where she was standing and slowly embraced her in his arms, his warm presence soothing her.

"Soon, we will all be an even bigger family. I'm glad that you will be a part of it now Vanitas," Zack said cheerfully with an upbeat tone in his voice.

Vanitas heard all the words they were saying but he never looked up. But he felt the power of their words. They were nice… and not hateful. They weren't yelling at him or saying cruel things to him. Instead only sweet words filled his ears, and he couldn't have been more happy to hear them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we have a lot of chapters for this, tmart and I thought it would be good to post double chapters in updates sometimes. So that way you get to read more sooner!   
> See you all next time!


	9. Chapter 9

" _We want you to stay here with us."_

" _Soon, we will all be an even bigger family."_

Vanitas sat down on his bed, letting these worlds circle around him again and again. He looked down at his bed and flopped back. It was so soft and warm… and it was all his now. A nice and cozy bed that was all his own. Though, it wasn't quite time to enjoy the comfort of the bed just yet, as that would come in the next few hours.

His eyes then glanced to the side, and he sighed long and hard. So much had happened in the past few days and he still couldn't believe where it led him to now. It was still hard for him to believe that he had been staying in that house for nearly two weeks now. To have a home again felt nice.

As he stayed there on his bed, he heard footsteps coming closer until they seemed to cross the threshold of the room. Then a tiny voice spoke up.

"Whatcha doin Vani?"

Vanitas sat up in his bed and looked towards the source, of course finding Ven standing there.

"Oh… I'm just thinking," he said shyly.

Even after all that time, he was still getting adjusted to trying to trust people more. He was getting better at it, or at least he hoped that he was. He liked Ventus though. He was easy to talk to and he always seemed to feel happier around him. Though, his parents had a similar effect as well. It must just be how they all are.

It wasn't long before the silence was broken again.

"Ah okay then. Since it's getting later, do ya wanna play?" Ven asked with hopeful eyes.

Vanitas nodded before he got off the bed. Right away he went and took hold of Ven's hand. Even though he had been in the house for a short while now, he still felt nervous walking by himself. Holding Ven's hand was something that managed to help him be calm and relaxed.

They marched across the hall to the room that was adjacent to theirs so they could play. Since adding another bed in Ven's room for Vanitas, there was not a lot of space anymore. So the former guest room was converted into the boys' own personal playroom.

"So anything that you wanted to do then?" Ventus asked curiously.

"I dunno. Maybe play with the plushies again?"

Ven went and picked up one of his big plushies, which Vanitas now knew was a Meow Wow. It looked like a cat but was slightly different. It's top fur was a blue color almost like the sky, and the underbelly of it was white, the color stretching up to the face. It had round, black eyes with a yellow cross centered in each. A pink horn adorned its forehead, and random spots of yellow and black were laid across the body, with a pink tail and black feet being the last things noticed.

"Yeah! We can do that," Ventus said joyously as he stared at the Meow Wow and then back at Vanitas before he handed it to him.

Vanitas stared at for a moment. " _I like these. They are soft. But… I wonder if I would ever have my own…"_ he thought silently.

He had been wanting his own since seeing Ven's and playing with it the first time. They were so soft and made it easy for him to cuddle. Though he liked the design of the Meow Wow, the colors were always a bit bright to him. Ven had some others, but they were mostly all colors that stood out. Vanitas himself preferred simple, dark colors most of the time. Though, he was not picky about anything as he was just happy to be there.

"I really would like to have one though…" Vanitas started thinking again before realizing he said that aloud. He didn't mean to, but Ven must have heard him.

"Huh? You want one? Oh I bet if I asked mom and dad they'd get one. They have loads at the store we go to. That's how I got all mine," Ventus said as he pointed to his large stash.

"Um… you don't have to ask. I was just thinking…"

"Okay! We can maybe ask later then. Let's play now!" Ventus explained as he looked at the pile of other Dream Eater plushies. He finally decided and picked up one that looked rather round but had various colors all over it.

"This is Tama Sheep. I'll play with her today!" Ventus explained as he held up the Tama Sheep above his head.

"Oh okay then. That sounds fun," Vanitas commented as he sat down on the floor in front of Ven.

Ventus soon followed suit and plopped down in front of Vanitas as well. The two of them started playing all kinds of games with the plushies. They played house, just imagined them talking to each other, and even decided to have some of the other characters that Ven owned join in as well. Before long, nearly half of the plush toys were spread out on the floor of the playroom as the two boys smiled and played as much as they could.

After a little bit more, Vanitas had stopped playing for a moment as he looked around at all of the toys around. This prompted Ven to wonder what was going on.

"Hey what is it Vani?"

Vanitas flinched slightly. Should he really ask? He wasn't sure if he had a right to, but he did want to know. "Um, well I was just wondering… is there like some other you have? Maybe some dark colored ones? I'm sorry about asking…" Vanitas mumbled out.

"Don't be sorry! You're just wonderin'. Umm, well I have most all the ones you see here," he started as he hummed to himself. Then suddenly, he remembered. "Wait! I do have another one. But… I don't ever get it out or play with it."

"Why not?"

"It's kinda scary to me still, so I put it up somewhere else. I don't know if you'll like it, cause it does look scary, but I'll get it," Ven said as he got up and went over to their room.

He dug around in his closet for a while until he found a box that was folded up tight. He opened it up and moved the blanket that was on top and got out another plush. He shuddered for a moment as he looked at it, but swallowed his fears. He wanted to see if it would make Vanitas happy so he had to do it. He then ran back to the playroom with it in his hands.

"This is it," Ven simply said as he held it out but looked away.

Vanitas's eyes lit up. It looked just like the Meow Wow plush, with the same overall look and shape, and even with the same details on it. But it was all a different color. Where the other one was blue and white on the body, this one was black and pink in those respective areas. Part of the face was still white, but the eyes were a crimson red, which happened to be one Vanitas's favorite colors. The horn on the head was a blue-green color, and the body sports gray spots and a tail instead of the white color.

"I uh… I really like this Ven. The colors are really cool. Could I play with it?" Vanitas asked, an upbeat tone making itself present in his voice.

"R-Really? Oh that's good that you like it then Vani. Hey… if you wanted, you can have that one. Like I said, it scares me and I don't play with it."

Vanitas was shocked. "Wait, really? Y-You would give this to me? I've never had something like this before…" Vanitas said as he started to tear up. "T-Thank you Ven."

Ven couldn't help but smile. "You're welcome! Hey you wanna keep playing now then?"

Vanitas used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his eyes. "Yeah, sure thing."

They went back to playing just as they were before and having a good time. Before they realized it, over an hour had passed by and the sun had set outside, causing the room to appear slightly darker than it was earlier.

"Boys!" Aqua's voice called to them. "It's time to come down for dinner."

"Oh! Food time! Come on Vani, we can play more later," Ventus said, dropping his plush to the side and holding out a hand for Vanitas.

"Okay," Vanitas replied simply as he took hold of Ven's hand before the two of them hurried out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen.

The dinner was just as nice as every other night. Vanitas was still shocked each time he bit into such good tasting food, but he savored every moment of it. They were actually feeling him well and letting him take as much food as he wanted. And in the end he got dessert! That was by far his most favorite part of the evening. He hoped that even night could be just like this one.

* * *

The following morning came and the first thing Vanitas was woken up to was Ventus standing right by his bed. "Good morning Vani!"

"Morning," Vanitas mumbled as he sat up.

"Come on! We gotta get to breakfast! Get dressed!" Ventus said excitedly.

"Why?"

"Cause we are going to the store today! And if we are good that might mean we get more toys!" Ventus explained.

"More toys? Just… from being good?" Vanitas asked. The sound of such a concept sounded weird to him. He had never been rewarded before for anything. But he figured that it was probably different now that he was here.

"Yeah that's right! So we gotta hurry! I wanna get there soon," Ventus said as he bounced from foot to foot. "And we are going to get to see Terra!"

Vanitas laughed at Ventus's energy. "Okay okay. I'll get ready now. But… um… who is Terra?"

"He's dad's cousin so he is my cousin too and he is super, super fun! Now come on!" Ventus exclaimed, getting more excited by the minute.

Vanitas never got the chance to ask any more questions, so he threw on some clothes quickly that had recently been washed. A simple pair of jeans and a red T-shirt he figured would be all right. Though, he did throw his jacket over the shirt, since he still had those marks on his arms. Meanwhile, Ven sported similar jeans but a gray shirt instead. Once the two of them were ready, they marched downstairs to be ready for their parents.

At the end of breakfast the two of them took off towards the front of the house. Zack was already waiting close to the door when they got there. "Hey boys! I see you two are ready to go."

"Yep!" Ven exclaimed. "I love the toy store."

Vanitas nodded. "It sounds fun… I've never been before."

"Ah you're gonna love it Vani! There's so much stuff!" Ven replied excitedly.

"Oh yeah, it's a pretty neat place if I do say so myself. They even have some things there I would want," Zack said before laughing.

"Like you need toys dear?"

Aqua's voice came from the stairs as she was making her way down. She seemed to be ready to go as well as the boys moved to the side as she made her way all the way down.

"Hey now. I can dream can't I? After all you have to-"

"Embrace your dreams. Yes I know. You say it all the time on repeat," Aqua said with a nonchalant mannerism. "But I don't think an adult man dreaming about wanting toys is the right kind of dream."

Zack's face turned into a pout. "Well you coulda let me finish…" he mumbled under his breath, just enough for the boys to hear him.

"Alright it seems like we're all set now. Let's load up," Aqua chimed in, directing them towards the door.

They all exited the house and gathered in the car, finally ready to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such a soft chapter isn't it? And soon we will see cousin Terra lol. How fun.   
> Anyway co-author tmart and I have decided to upload 1 chapter every 2 days. That is the plan we will try and keep with so until next time!


	10. Chapter 10

The toy store seemed much bigger than Vanitas was expecting it to be, but it wasn't the largest building he had seen. It looked to be a large rectangular building on the outside, with simple tan and gray colors lining the outside walls. It wouldn't look like a place for toys if not for the large sign in the center that read ' _Terra Toys'_ in firetruck red.

"Wow," Vanitas mumbled once they were close enough.

He held Ventus's hand a little tighter as they got to the entrance. This was completely new to him, though he knew that Ventus was excited, he had no idea what was inside.

He tensed up when he felt a small squeeze on his hand. He looked over to Ventus with big worried eyes, who to his surprise was looking at him nice and calm. Though when he saw Vanitas's face his grip loosened up slightly.

"Oh! Sorry Vani! I didn't upset you by that I hope. Mom does it sometimes when I'm nervous. Reassuring squeeze she called it. But I won't do it if you don't want me to."

"I-It's okay…" Vanitas said. "If you say it helps…"

Ventus nodded and they continued to walk with their parents into the store. When the automatic doors slid open, Vanitas gasped at what he saw. There were so many aisles that lined the store that Vanitas could not count them all. To the left of the opening doors they were all in parallel and looked to go almost from the front of the store all the way to the back. To the right looked to be the register area with some desks as well, and halfway through the store on the right side was more toy aisles. It was much bigger on the inside than he had expected.

"Whoa…" he said aloud as he stared in wonder at everything.

It was hard to take it in from a first glance, but he saw what looked like board games down one aisle that was visible on the right side. However, the main thing he wanted to know was where the plush toys were, and upon looking around saw a glimpse of a familiar one like Ven had on the left back aisle. When he stepped a bit more to the side, Vanitas was able to see the plushies lining the shelves in that area. There were so many more things all over the store as he looked around, though some things he had never seen before.

Vanitas blinked slowly as he tried to take it all in. "It's really big."

"Yeah! And just wait 'till you see all the toys they got," Ventus said as he started to pull Vanitas along.

The clearing of a throat stopped him. He turned around to see his mother looking at him seriously. "Ven you know what I have told you about running off like that."

"Oh, sorry mom!" Ventus replied quickly.

"Usually I would let you go along if I know where you are going. But since Vanitas is here, I'll stay with you then. Is that all right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ven responded slowly.

Vanitas nodded his head before turning his attention back to looking around the store.

Aqua smiled as she turned around. "Alright, Zack, I'm gonna go-"

She stopped mid sentence as she faced the spot where Zack had been. A small sigh escaped from her mouth. "Of course he's run off too. He's almost like a giant kid," she mumbled to herself quietly.

"Mom come on, let's go to the toys. I bet Vani really wants to see them too."

She turned back to face the boys. "Oh alright alright then. I'm right behind you so just lead where you want to go."

"Okay!" Ven said before he started off through the store, Vanitas in tow.

Ventus quickly led Vanitas right toward the aslise that had the plushies. When they entered the section, it was much longer than Vanitas's realized. And there were also far more plushies than he could count. So many different sizes, colors, and shapes of plushies. And all of them looked soft and comforting.

Ventus sprinted off to a section of the toys that was a tad farther down, with Vanitas followed behind him. Vanitas stared constantly at all of the surroundings, and the section they were now in was titled ' _Dream Eaters'_. He never expected there to be so many of them though, as there were some there that he still had not seen either.

"Ooh where is it where is it…" Ventus muttered to himself, seemingly looking for something.

"What is where?" Vanitas asked curiously.

"It's a new one they supposed to have. But I don't see it…"

"What does it look like, Ven?"

"Really really cute! And it comes with a little cape and its own bag!" Ventus exclaimed.

"Maybe it isn't in stock yet," Aqua chimed in.

"Isn't in stock?" Ventus asked his mother.

"It means that they don't have it yet to put on the shelves," Aqua explained.

"Awww… but I really want that one though…" Ventus complained and lowered his head.

Aqua knew what to do though. "Well, I can see when they will be getting anymore in and make sure to get you one then okay?"

"Oh, alright then…" he mumbled. Then his eyes darted back to Vanitas. "Well, at least you can still get one today though!"

"Yeah, just take your time and look. We're in no hurry," Aqua added in an attempt to encourage Vanitas to begin looking.

"Hello there Aqua. Seems you all are back again," a mysterious, deep voice called out from behind them all.

Aqua turned around to see a familiar face, but before she could say anything, Ventus beat her to it.

"Terra!" Ventus shouted before running at the man.

"Hey there Ven," he spoke briefly as he held out his arms to catch Ventus in a hug. Then with a smile as he looked to Aqua. "So, what brings you guys in today? Looking for a new toy?"

"Well, We actually had come to get something for Ven's new friend here," she directed attention towards Vanitas.

Terra looked towards Vanitas. "Hey there. What's your name?"

Vanitas shuddered and stepped back. He had no idea who this strange person was that was talking to him and had never seen the man before. He couldn't help but react on instinct. Ven and his parents were the only ones that he could actually feel comfortable around, so anyone else was still a mystery to Vanitas. He saw some protection in Aqua as he sneaked behind her to hide.

"You don't have to be scared, I'm a friend," Terra said before squatting down to get on closer eye level to Vanitas.

Aqua reached down and placed a hand on Vanitas's shoulder. She made sure to be gentle and to keep a calm and friendly gaze once he turned to look at her. "It's okay Vanitas. You can trust Terra. But if you want to wait for later he'll understand."

She then glanced at Terra, giving him a serious look. Quickly he nodded, getting at least a basis of what she was trying to imply. "Oh yeah. It's cool. I can understand if you're scared of the big tall bear man."

Though Vanitas was still afraid, he now felt rather confused. "Bear… man…?"

Ventus laughed. "He likes to call himself that cause he's really tall and strong like a bear."

Terra stood back up, as if to prove the point, and Vanitas stared long and hard. He really was tall! Terra seemed to be just about as tall as Zack was too, maybe even taller. It was hard for him to tell though. Slowly Vanitas stepped out from behind Aqua and continued to look at him. "You really strong as a bear?"

"Of course!" Terra laughed. "Hey Ven, can I make an example with you helping me out?"

Ventus hopped up and down with excitement. "Sure!"

Terra squatted down again and made a muscle with his right arm as Ventus ran over to him. He wrapped his arms around Terra's and held tightly, and then Terra slowly stood back up. He casually and carefully kept Ventus on his arm until he was all the way standing up straight. Now Ventus was just dangling from his arm, Terra showing no signs of struggle at all.

Vanitas was in awe for a moment. He couldn't believe how strong that man actually was. Though, he had remembered seeing Zack do some similar things before, but nothing like that.

"That seems… fun," he replied slowly.

"It is Vani! You should try it too!" Ven happily added.

Terra chuckled lightly. "Well, you wanna give it a go?"

The offer was tempting, but Vanitas could not find it in himself to do it. He slowly shook his head side to side, indicating that he was not wanting to do it. Though, the thought lingered in the back of his mind about how cool it seemed. Since Zack was almost the same, he figured that he could do something like that. " _Maybe I can just ask Ven's dad when I get home. It would just feel more comfortable with him."_

Terra replied soon. "Oh that's alright then. Maybe next time."

He then lowered Ventus back down to the ground slowly until the boy's feet were touching the floor. He glanced at them all over again for a moment before realizing that something, or rather someone, was missing.

"Hey so where's Zack? I just somehow noticed that he's not here."

Aqua shuffled some. "You know him. He ran off to one of the other aisles I'm sure when I lost sight of him. No doubt searching for another collectable item again."

Just then a familiar boisterous voice echoed in the area. "Yo!"

Aqua and Terra both pivoted to the side where the voice came from to see Zack standing there. Ventus moved to the side just enough to see his father while Vanitas stayed slightly hidden behind Aqua's leg. Zack seemed to be carrying something under his arm, most likely a toy collectible that he had found on his journey through the store. He finally had reached them after walking a few more seconds.

"Good to see you again Terra. How's my favorite cousin doing?" Zack chimed in.

Terra wrapped an arm around Zack's shoulers, pulling him into a side hug. "Doing fine as ever. And I see you are still looking out for new collectables. I thought Aqua told you that you had to stop buying those."

"I did tell him, but of course he won't listen," Aqua deadpanned before crossing her arms.

"But this is a really cool one!" Zack exclaimed before holding it up for all to see.

"Well you can always get it later can't you?" Aqua questioned intently.

"Wait, this is the Kirin. From Monster Hunter. I honestly forgot that I had ordered that. I thought it would be a cool addition to the store," Terra replied, seeming shocked after he finally paid attention to what Zack had.

The figure was quite ornate, and quite large as it took Zack holding it in both hands. The creature looked almost like a majestic unicorn that was surrounded by lightning across its body. It had a pure white mane and tail that matched with small patches of fur around the feet of the same color. The body was made of what looked like scales that were a mixture of silver and light blue. The horn that adorned its head was a pale, light blue color and its eyes seemed to almost glow a crimson red. The pose it was in had it raised up on its hind legs, with one of the front feet almost as high as his head, and the other foot just slightly lower.

"Wow that looks really cool!" Ventus yelled out after seeing it. "Right Vani?"

Vanitas wanted to say something but he was at a loss for words. He liked the look of it though, but just did not know what to say. He didn't have to say anything though as Zack chimed in.

"Yep! It's my favorite creature from the game. And as you would know, it's extremely rare. So that's why I'm so surprised. It's not likely to ever find it again. Not at this price. Plus," he started as he turned to Aqua. "With it being rare, it could fetch a higher price to resell it one day."

Zack knew though that he would most likely never sell it, but he wanted to do all that he could to convince Aqua to let him have it. He never sold any of his collectibles, at least not yet. But he knew one day that he might have to. He only hoped that was enough to let him get the one he wanted right now.

Aqua started to protest, but with Terra seemingly on Zack's side, she saw no use. A sigh escaped from her lips. "Okay, you can get it."

"Alright!" Zack exclaimed, fist pumping in victory.

"But!" Aqua started, her loudness demanding Zack's attention. "That means that I can get something of my choosing as well. Not a toy of course, but I'll let you know."

"Of course, anything you want dear," Zack cheerfully agreed.

Ventus and Vanitas had been watching them talk and carry on for the past few minutes. Ventus nearly started laughing at his dad's excitement over the toy. Vanitas, however, did not really know what to make of the situation. Zack's enthusiasm and good nature always surprised him since he was not used to seeing that a lot. But the more he thought about it, the happier it made him as a small smile started to grace his face. He felt a bit more comfortable now as he started to stand more out in the open close to Ventus.

"Now we can get something for Vani!" Ventus exclaimed.

"Oh yeah that's right," Terra said. "You guys were looking for something for him. So, Vanitas was it?" Terra looked over to Vanitas and smiled. "Do you have any kind of toy that you like? Or do you like the Dream Eater plushies like Ven does?"

"I… I think some of them are cool… but I like the darker color ones. Those are cool…" Vanitas replied.

"Hmm…" Terra hummed. "You know I think I may have something you would like. Follow me," Terra said before walking down the aisle.

"Let's go see Vani," Ventus said before walking after Terra.

Vanitas stayed still for a bit, still not fully trusting the man, but he saw that Ventus was fine with him. So he slowly followed after Ventus to see where they would go. Terra led them down the aisle until they reached the end of it. When Vanitas looked, there were more plushies just like the other one, but these… These were different. There were only a few different types compared to the many types of Dream Eaters, but the one thing these had in common with one another was that they all had red eyes.

Terra picked up one of them and held it out to Vanitas. It was a blue little creature with a triangle shaped head with little jagged antennas on its head.

"This is a Flood. It is a part of a small plushie line called Unversed. There aren't too many of them, but maybe you'll like it?" Terra asked.

Vanitas walked up closer to the plushie and inspected it. Carefully he reached out and took it from Terra's hands. It was just as soft as Ventus's plushies, but when he looked at this one, he found that he liked it much better than the light colored cute ones.

He squeezed it against his chest and started to smile. "I like it."

"There you go, then we have solved the mystery of what to get you," Terra laughed. "And Ven, I assume you have been looking for a new Dream Eater plush?"

"Yeah! The new one with the little cape and purse. But it wasn't on the shelf…" Ventus said before sighing.

"You mean the Chirithy plush? Yeah those have been selling quite fast. But don't you worry, your cousin Terra made sure to think of you," Terra said before bending over to get closer to the boys. "I made sure to order extras and I still have some in back that I haven't had a chance to put out yet."

Ventus's eyes widened. "Ah! So I can get one!"

"That's right," Terra said before ruffling Ventus's hair. "Now let's get back to your parents so we can tell them the good news."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do we make an entire chapter about a toy store visit? Idk we just do somehow haha.   
> But also good old Terra is here now yay!  
> Thank you all for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

The entire group soon walked up to the front of the store. Terra had walked away for a moment to go to the back and grab what he needed for Ventus. While he did that Vanitas looked down at his plush and thought over it.

"Can… Can I really get this?" Vanitas asked softly.

"Of course you can Vanitas," Aqua said in a kind tone. "You've been very good since you came to stay with us. So think of it like a little present for being good and well behaved."

"Thank you," Vanitas said quietly, not sure of what else to really say as he hugged the Flood plush even tighter.

Eventually Terra came back and he was holding a different plush. This one looked much more like a cat than Ventus's Meow Wow did, and on top of that it was even colored to look like one. It was grey, with some black stripes across its head and other parts of its body. It's eyes were squinted slightly and colored a light blue. And just like Ventus said, it had a little cape attached, which was the same color as its body, and it also had a pink bag around its neck with a yellow star adorned in the center.

Ven saw the toy and screamed. "Yes that's the one! Can I have it please?!"

"Of course you can," Terra chuckled slightly as he handed the Chirithy to Ventus.

"Yay!" he exclaimed. He then turned to Vanitas. "Hey look Vani. Now we both have the things that we want," he continued as he formed a big grin.

Vanitas could not help but return the smile, and though it was not as wide as Ven's, it was still genuine. "Yeah, that's for sure."

The two of them held on to their plushies as they stood behind Aqua and Zack. The purchases were made and soon they were heading towards the exit.

"Bye Terra! Thank you so much!" Ventus shouted as he used his new plush to wave goodbye.

Vanitas watched curiously at the motion and soon decided to copy what Ventus was doing but with his own plushie. "Thanks…"

"No problem boys. Hope to see you both soon," Terra said as he waved to them before they exited out the doors.

They all left the store feeling much happier than they had been before. Each of the boys were sporting something new that they would be able to enjoy. Though, it was hard to tell who had more energy about it all: Ven or Zack.

After they were leaving the parking lot, the goal was to head back home. But, someone had another idea.

"Hey mom. Dad. Can we go to the park on the way home? I wanna play," Ventus asked curiously.

Aqua turned back as Zack was driving off. "We already have gone to the toy store at your request. We can do something else, but why don't we let Vanitas choose?"

Ventus thought for a moment but already knew his answer. "Oh okay then!" He then turned to Vanitas. "So what do you wanna do then?"

Having been asked something like that was a surprise to Vanitas. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to do, other than just to keep being happy like he was currently and stay with his new Flood friend. He wasn't very picky about what to do either and just wanted to be around the others that he was comfortable with.

"Um," he started. "The park sounds fine to me. As long as we can just be together."

"Are you sure?" Aqua began. "You can cho-"

"It's fine," Zack interrupted her. "If that's what he chose then that's what we'll do. It'll be fun."

"All right, then let's head to the park," Aqua replied back.

"Yay!" Ventus cheered happily. "This is going to be fun!"

Vanitas smiled as well, but did not cheer out loud. He wasn't much of one to be loud anyways. But he was feeling happy at least. He had a new plushie that was all his and he was going to another fun place. It was happening all in one day and it really did make him feel good about things. And now he was finding himself curious to see what else could happen next on this day.

The park Ventus had wanted to go to was only about thirty minutes away from what Zack had said, but it felt like an eternity to the boys. They began to play pretend with their new plushies in the back of the car, which brought some laughs from Zack and Aqua. They were happy to see Vanitas getting along well with Ventus now, and happy that their new child was finally seeming to enjoy himself. If they had their windows down, the entire community would have been able to hear the joyous sounds coming from their vehicle on the way to the park.

* * *

"We're here, we're here!" Ventus shouted as they pulled the car into an area that was much more green than the others.

As soon as Zack opened the car door and unbuckled Ventus from his seat he jumped out of the car and ran to the edge of the playground that was closer to the center of the park. Vanitas was the next to be unbuckled, but he slowly slipped down from his seat and stepped down from the car. He walked closer to the entrance to the playground, though he came to a stop right at the edge of it.

The playground was vast in size, and one of the biggest things that Vanitas had seen before as far as play things. The area where it was located was surrounded by thick, green grass on all sides, with the playground being close to the center of the park. The ground beneath the play area was mainly dirt, with a sidewalk that curved around the different areas that were there. But that was only the surroundings.

The actual structure was something else. There were a couple towers on either side of the main structure which connected all of the other parts of the play set. There was a slide in the middle that curved around to the ground, a mini rock wall that was angled to the left, and another climbable area to the right. A staircase on either side could be seen at the back of it as well. Off to the side were some monkey bars and a swing set as well that were not attached to the big set. The sun shone on all of it, making it seem even more appealing.

Ventus finally turned around to see Vanitas standing still. "What's wrong Vani? Don't you wanna play?"

"I've just… never seen so much stuff to play on. Wow…"

Vanitas stared in wonder at the many things before his eyes. It really did look fun and inviting. But he still did not move from his spot. Eventually Ventus came over and gently took his hand. "Come Vani, we're going to have some on the playground and we can play with our new toys too! It will be an adventure!"

"Okay, it does sound fun," Vanitas replied before finally stepping onto the actual playground area.

"Yah! Let's make it a big adventure! Like an exploring one. We can pretend the playground is a spooky castle or something and we gotta go explore it!"

"All right then. Let's do it then."

Vanitas allowed Ventus to lead him over to where the stairs where they would climb up. But Ventus just had to know something first.

"So, you never had been to a playground before?" Ventus asked Vanitas as he saw his new friend looking around everywhere.

Vanitas turned his attention to Ventus for a moment to answer. "No. I was never out of the house much. I never went to have fun anyways…"

Ventus knew that his mom would tell him not to press on that issue, so he decided not to. Instead, he focused on trying to help Vanitas have a good time. "Well we are gonna have fun today then for your first time at one. Come on!"

They proceeded to climb up the stairs to reach the inside of the tower. Once they were up there, everything else looked far away from the ground as they were higher up. Vanitas thought it was cool that they were up there, though Ventus was used to it by now having done it so much.

Ventus kept turning and looking, but then off in front of him in the next tower he thought that he saw a familiar spiky head. "Hey Vani. I think some friends I know are here. Come on, you can meet them."

Vanitas paused briefly. New people? "Umm… I don't know…"

"Please? They are really cool if it's who I think it is," Ventus asked as he almost was pleading with Vanitas. He did want to see the others, but he also did not want it to make Vanitas uncomfortable either if he would not go.

Finally after some thought, Vanitas decided. "O-Okay. I'll come with you. I'll just stay behind you though."

"That's fine. Let's go then," Ventus offered as he led Vanitas onward.

In just a few short steps they were over at the other tower. As Ventus entered, he looked to the right to see exactly who he thought it was sitting on the floor. "Lea! Isa!"

Vanitas turned to look at the two boys that Ventus just called by name as he still kept his distance behind Ventus.

The one called Lea was a spiky redhead with hair very similar to Zack's but not quite as long. It was slightly slicked back with spiky sticking up nearly everywhere. He had emerald green eyes and wore a big smirk on his face. Isa meanwhile was almost an opposite. He sported blue hair that was oddly shaped as it was slicked back on the top and ended in an upward spike at the back, with short bangs around his sides and back. He also sported green eyes but with a bit more blue tint, and he wore a solemn look on his face.

They were both older than Ventus and ergo Vanitas as well. It was even more obvious when they stood up as they were slightly taller as well. Lea was the first one to speak up.

"Yo Ven. What's going on?"

"Oh nothing much. Me and my friend Vani had come up here to play."

Lea looked and saw a similar sized boy in Vanitas that was standing behind Ventus. "I see now. Hey there," he said towards the black-haired boy. "The name's Lea. Got it memorized?" He pointed to his head with a finger and his thumb outstretched.

Vanitas skulked slightly. He was too unsure of a random person that he had just met and did not know how to react. Ventus could feel Vanitas latching on to him more though and from what he had experienced so far, could guess what the issue was.

"It's okay Vani. Lea is a good friend. He won't hurt you," Ven added, hoping to ease the worry that Vanitas had.

"Yeah he's right ya know? I don't bite," Lea said with a slight chuckle.

Vanitas was unsure of what to do. The kid seemed friendly enough, but he was still so wary about randomly trusting others. He wanted to because Ven had told him that they were friends and so it would be okay. But it was confusing to him still about his feelings, and he was trying to work it all out. So, he did not move but only stared at the redhead.

Before Lea could say anything else, the one that was called Isa stepped up. "Lea, can't you see that he is a bit scared. Don't pressure him if he does not want to talk."

Isa then turned to Vanitas. "Sorry about that. My friend here just gets really excited when meeting new people. I'm Isa. Good to meet you."

It was still hard to figure out as Vanitas was still unsure how he felt about all of this. However, Isa felt more natural to him and he felt a bit more comfortable when he had spoken to him. "H-Hey. I'm, umm… Vanitas."

Lea was about to retort but Isa shot him a look that told him to keep quiet. Lea's face turned into a mini pout. Ventus snickered at what he had seen, which made Vanitas look and a small smile graced his face as he thought Lea's expression was funny.

"Hey let's go tell mom and dad," Ventus suddenly interjected.

Vanitas considered it for a second. "Um, yeah. That sounds good to tell them. And then we play?"

"Of course we play! Right guys?" Ven said, directing the question to everyone. Lea and Isa gave a slight nod to him.

Ventus held onto the hand of Vanitas and walked towards the front of the structure. The two of them went to the front where they could see Aqua and Zack standing around, seemingly talking.

"Mom! Dad! Me and Vani found Lea and Isa!," he yelled loud enough for them to hear him.

Vanitas looked down at the two people that had taken him in. He still had not gotten used to calling them his mom or dad, but they were important to him now for the most part. He managed to catch Aqua's eye as he was looking at her and he could tell that she smiled directly at him.

"I can see that!" Zack yelled back. "Looks like it's gonna be fun for you"

"You two just be careful okay? We'll be right over here near the park bench if you need anything," Aqua added in as they turned and walked away to the nearby bench as Vanitas and Ventus, along with Lea and Isa, began to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lea and Isa are here now! Woo!   
> Idk what else to say right now but see you all next time!


	12. Chapter 12

"Well at least Vanitas seems to be enjoying himself and getting better," Aqua said to Zack.

She was still sitting on the bench as they had been watching the boys play for the past hour, or at least it seemed that long. In the meantime, she had grabbed a book out of the car, a favorite that she always kept with her: _Wuthering Heights_. Nearly a quarter of it was done already though since she was able to read fairly quickly. Her head was buried in the book more so now than before, but when Zack did not respond after a bit, she looked up to see what he was doing.

Of course he was doing squats. He had stepped just far enough away that he was out of earshot. She placed her marker in the book and got up to stand in front of Zack, knowing that it was the only way that she would catch his attention. Finally after seeing her, he stopped.

"Oh hey, what is it Aqua?"

"I was asking you about the boys."

"Ah, sorry, you know that I can get really into doing these exercises. Especially when there's nothing else going on. What's up then?"

Aqua began again with what she had said before. "Vanitas is enjoying himself and getting better it seems like, huh?"

Zack stopped his squats and then turned to look at the playground where the boys were still goofing off. A small chuckle escaped his lips. "Yeah it sure seems like it. Maybe it was good luck that we came here today too, with running into Isa and Lea. Being around them maybe can help him more."

"I guess you're right. He seems to be getting along with them at least," Aqua smiled as she watched them along with Zack.

After watching for a little while longer and talking for a bit more, Zack started to feel slightly hungry. "Hey, do you want some ice cream?

"Huh? Oh, yeah sure. That would be nice. Get one for the boys too so that they can all have one. You want me to get it?" Aqua asked curiously.

Zack waved his hands. "No no, I've got it. Just wanted to make sure. I'm not taking the car anyways in case you need it. Plus the walk is a good way to keep moving as well. I'll be back soon."

And with that Zack had bolted off towards the ice cream store. It was about a block away on the corner of the street so Aqua knew that it would be a little bit before he got back. She sat back down and opened her book and went back to reading as she noticed the boys going off in their own directions.

* * *

"Ah you almost got me!" Ven's voice could be heard.

"Almost? I totally had you there," Lea said while laughing.

All of them had been playing for a while, pretending that they were in a haunted house. But now, they boys had split off into groups. Ventus and Lea were playing a game of tag around the playground, running around through the towers, up and down the stairs, and anywhere else they wanted to go.

On the other hand, Vanitas and Isa had moved to the swing set, and were quietly swinging back and forth. Neither of them really talked, but Vanitas didn't mind too much. Vanitas seemed to get along better with Isa than Lea, despite being almost used to his boisterous nature because of Zack. But Isa was a bit more reserved and calm, much like himself, so it made things much more relatable.

Eventually Lea and Ventus came running over to the swing set. But instead of taking a seat on the swings, both boys flopped down to the ground and breathed heavily, tired out from running so much.

"That was fun," Lea breathed out in between breaths.

"Yeah! I almost caught you too!" Ventus replied cheerfully. "So you guys just been swinging?"

Vanitas nodded a little. "Yeah. It's nice though. I like it."

"It was nice and relaxing. Vanitas gets it. Unlike a certain redhead," Isa commented as he threw a glance to Lea.

"Hey! I'm getting exercise at least!" Lea retorted.

"Swinging can be a form of exercise," Isa replied calmly.

"I guess so," Lea said with a nonchalant attitude.

Isa then checked the small watch that he was wearing and noticed how late in the afternoon that it was getting. "Well I guess that we should go now Lea. Mom and Dad are probably waiting for us at the store."

Vanitas looked over at Isa, sad to hear that he would have to go. But wondered what he meant. "The store?"

"Yeah, our parents met up as they usually do sometimes and were gonna go shopping. They said we could just come here like we always do. But they said they would get us ice cream though after playing so we don't wanna keep em waiting," Lea explained to them.

Isa slowed down on his swing until he came to a complete stop. "It has been a while so we do need to get going."

"But let's play again sometime soon, okay?" Lea asked before standing back up.

Ven smiled. "Yeah we will do it again. It was good seeing you guys again! What about you Vani?"

Vanitas looked a bit unsure for a moment, but then he opened up. "It was, um, good meeting you. And yeah. Sounds fun."

Isa smiled and nodded, and Lea began to talk. "All right! We'll play again soon then. Got it memorized?" he said, once again holding his finger to his head.

Ventus laughed at his motion, and it even stirred a chuckle from Vanitas. Lea and Isa walked off away from the park and away from the two boys finally, leaving them to their own devices.

On the way out of the park, Lea and Isa passed by Ven's mom, who had still been reading on the bench. "Hey Mrs. Aqua," Lea spoke up.

"Oh hello there boys. What are you doing over here now?" she asked.

"We have to go now. Our parents will be waiting at the store," Isa added in.

Lea commented again. "Yeah, they're buying us ice cream too!"

"Oh that sounds good. Hope you boys had a good time with Ventus and Vanitas?"

"Oh yeah," they replied in unison.

Aqua chuckled. "All right then. So before you go, are you guys still coming over the day after tomorrow?"

"Uh…" Lea began before Isa cut in.

"Yes I believe we are. We'll be there in the afternoon I think."

"Okay well just make sure and let us know. I won't hold you up any longer. You two take care then. Tell your parents I said hi."

The boys then nodded as they began to head off. " _Ice cream? Hmm I guess I better try to call Zack and let him know we won't need six but only four. Don't need the extras melting."_

She had just pulled out her phone and texted Zack, when he heard Ventus and Vanitas from over near the playground. "Hey mom!"

They both were standing to the side of the playground to be able to see her, and Ven was waving proudly. Ven motioned for Vanitas to follow him and both of them ran over to her.

Aqua put her book back down that she had just picked back up. "You boys having some fun?"

"Oh yeah!" Ven replied.

"Yeah," Vanitas said quietly. "It was interesting."

"Looks like you two had fun with Isa and Lea. You guys played a lot of games over there," Aqua said, smiling happily.

"Yeah we did play a lot of fun games. You had fun right Vani?"

Vanitas squeezed his Flood plushie before slowly nodded. "Uh-huh… they weren't too bad. The redhead was pretty loud though…"

"That's how Lea is, but he is really fun. You'll get used to him," Ventus said reassuringly

"I guess so…" Vanitas replied before pressing his face into his new plushie.

"It's a good thing you two are having so much fun running around like that. You're probably going to be pretty tired soon," Aqua replied.

"Nah! I'm not tired, I'm having fun!" Ventus shouted joyfully.

Aqua laughed. "Either way, Zack is going to be getting you guys some ice cream. Though he doesn't know that Lea and Isa have left. I'll probably need to go and tell him cause he isn't answering the text I sent him."

Ventus's face lit up, and Vanitas even managed a smile as well. The notion of ice cream was enough to get them excited. "Oooh ice cream! Yay!" Ventus yelled out cheerfully.

"Yeah, I might have to go check on Zack but I'm not sure yet. If I do, you boys want to come with me? Or do you want to just keep playing?"

They both thought it over briefly, but both came to the same conclusion. "Play," the two said at almost the same time.

"Well all right then. It's just right across the road so I won't be gone too long. There's nobody else here so I think that it will be okay. Just stay on the playground and don't go anywhere else, got it?" Aqua asserted herself.

Ventus and Vanitas both nodded. With that Aqua stood up and walked towards the car to put her book up. She wasn't taking the car though, but would just do like Zack and walk over to the shop right across the road. "Okay I'll be back before too long."

Once Aqua left, Ventus turned to Vanitas and smiled. "Race you up to the super tall slide!"

"Okay!" Vanitas replied before the two of them began to run as fast as they could.

Soon they reached the top of the playground where there was the longest slide. The boys stopped for a bit to catch their breath, but their energy was far from over. "I think I won," Ventus commented once they finally relaxed.

"Oh?... I guess I wasn't fast enough."

"You just gotta practice. We can practice running together and you can get fast!" Ventus said cheerfully.

"Thanks," Vanitas replied quietly, happy that Ventus was there for him and actually wanted to help him be better.

"So wanna go down the tube slide first?" Ventus asked once they had gotten to the top of the tower section of the playground.

"Yeah okay," Vanitas replied.

"See you at the bottom," Ventus said before stepping back to give Vanitas room to sit down on the slide.

Vanitas held his little Flood plushie before going down the long tube slide. Ventus watched him go down the slide and he could almost hear some little giggles from his new brother. After a few moments Ventus stepped in and sat down on the slide. He pushed himself down and let out a joyous bit of laughter.

When he got to the bottom of the slide he saw that Vanitas was only a few feet away from the slide. He wasn't looking at the slide though, but instead off towards the edge of the playground, near the forested area. As Ventus got closer he could see there was worry in Vanitas's eyes, and he was gripping his new toy rather tightly.

"Vani? What's wrong?"

Vanitas stepped back slightly, his eyes still fixated towards the forest. He lowered his head and shook it quickly. There was a faint mumble of words that followed afterwards, but Ventus could not understand what it was.

Slowly he turned his head to where Vanitas was looking. There at the end of the playground stood two adult figures that Ventus had never seen before. He didn't even know how long they had been there, but he saw that they were staring over at them.

"Why are they staring at us? Who are they?" Ventus asked.

Vanitas whined as his body tensed up even more. "It's them…"

"Who's them?" Ventus asked as he tried to think of what Vanitas meant. And then a thought came to his mind. "Wait… are they… your parents?"

Vanitas whined again as he saw them start to walk closer. Ventus looked around to see where his own parents were, but they had not returned from getting the boys ice cream. Ventus knew that they were supposed to stay away from strangers too, especially ones who looked as scary as these people did.

But… these were Vanitas's old parents… the ones he had run away from. They were the ones that made Vantias scared of everything. And Ventus wasn't going to let that stand, not for a single moment.

Ventus sneered at them before stepping in front of Vanitas. "You go away! You can't come near Vani anymore."

"And who the hell said that?" the man scoffed. "He's our kid after all."

"Yeah, you're the one that has been hiding him from us, right? And that isn't a very nice thing to do," the woman said before sneering.

"You're the ones that aren't nice!" Ventus shouted as he held on to Vanitas's arm. "Come on Vanitas, let's go find my parents."

"I wouldn't think about doing that," the man said.

Before Ventus could even turn away the man had reached out and grabbed him. In a panic he didn't even realize he had let go of his new toy, instead he focused on swinging his arms and legs. He tried to shout, but the man had already placed his hand over Ventus's mouth.

Glancing over Ventus saw that Vanitas's mother was now holding Vanitas in a similar fashion, but he didn't even seem phased by it. His eyes were wide through and tears were forming, but he didn't move an inch.

"You being here has caused a bit of a problem, kid," the man said to Ventus. "But it isn't anything we can't work around. You deserve anyway after keeping our excuse of a son hidden from us for so long."

Ventus tried to scream again as the two horrible parents began to walk off into the forest, but there was no one around at the time that saw them or seemed to have heard them. Ventus only wished that he could reach out to Vanitas's hand, not only cause Vanitas looked terrified, but also that he was feeling the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riku: Oh dear the angst has started up again. 
> 
> tmart: Well we just have to add a bit of angst in to the story now of course. But now we've made quite the interesting twist in the story. How will it all unfold next? We'll be updating again later in the week, so tune in to find out. Thanks everyone for the support!


	13. Chapter 13

Aqua and Zack were walking back from the ice cream shop now. Zack had almost ordered those extras right before Aqua had gotten there, but she had made it in time. Aqua insisted on helping since she was there already, so the two of them were each eating on one as they were holding the others, trying to get back as soon as they could before the ice cream melted. But also, they wanted to get back to check on the boys to make sure they were okay.

It took a few more minutes than expected as Zack had apparently forgotten his wallet at the shop halfway back, so they had to go and look for it. After that slight mishap though, they could see the park clearly now.

"Oh I bet that Ven and Vani are going to like this ice cream. It tastes so good," Aqua commented as she smiled at the sweet taste that it held in her mouth.

"Yeah. I'm just glad that it all hasn't melted yet. You sure that it was fine leaving them here on their own though?" Zack asked curiously.

"Well, everything had been calm. And it's just -"

She stopped what she was saying as she also stopped herself immediately. She looked to the park, past the trees and to the playground. There were no sounds coming from the place at all, and she could see no visages of their kids running around. Her ice cream fell to the ground with a smack.

"Z-Zack… t-the kids… where are they?" she said aloud with quivering lips.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he looked towards the playground. That was when he noticed the same thing. "Wait what!?"

Now all of the freshly gathered ice cream was melting away on the ground as the two of them ran forward and began searching around the park. Every place that they could look, they did. But they were unable to find the boys anywhere.

They tried calling out the names of Vanitas and Ventus, but they heard no response. Aqua's worry started to build up in her chest the more she looked. And then she nearly felt her heart stop when she got near one of the slides that was close to the swings.

"Z-Zack! Come here!" she shouted, the fear breaking in her voice.

"Coming!" Zack responded quickly and ran over to her. "What did you find?"

Aqua couldn't speak. The words would not leave her mouth. Instead she simply pointed forward and Zack looked. Just in front of the slide there were two little plushies on the ground. A little flood and a chirithy plush. They were the exact plushies that they had bought the boys not too long ago.

"Oh no…" Zack whispered, his voice also feeling weak and fearful.

"What c-could have happened? Why did I leave them alone?" Aqua said, the tone in her voice breaking even further.

Zack wrapped an arm around Aqua and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Hey, don't start blaming yourself over this. You had no idea it would happen. We've left Ventus for a few minutes before at the playground, so how would you know this time would be any different?"

"But I should have just had them come with me… now… th-they're…" Aqua sobbed onto Zack's shoulder as she tried to speak. "Did they run away? Or…"

She couldn't quite process what she was thinking. So many thoughts were going through her head, trying to figure out what had happened. As she looked around with her frantic eyes, she spotted some dirt that seemed to make some tracks.

"Uh, Zack. W-What is that?" she said, pointing to what she had seen.

Zack loosened his grip around her briefly to glance to where she was looking. He then noticed the same thing Aqua had seen. "It seems like… tracks. Footprints. And they are too big to be boys…"

Aqua gasped. "No… Why would someone do this…?"

Zack brought Aqua back to him and made his embrace even tighter. "Shhh, it's okay. We're going to find them, I know we will."

Aqua tried to relax in Zack's arm, but every possible outcome was filling her head. One though mainly was in control and she couldn't shake the thought. "But… wh-what if… it was Vanitas's parents?"

"Why would it be them? It's clear they never cared for Vanitas, that's why he ran away."

"B-But even if he ran away, it is possible that they would want to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't go telling anyone what they have done to him… I'm sorry… it's all I can think about right now…" Aqua said before letting out a long sigh. "I'm worried for the boys."

"Hey, we know Ventus is a good, strong boy. He'll look out for Vanitas, though I am sure that both of them will look out for each other. But let's not keep standing and worrying. We need to do something about this, right away."

"Yeah," Aqua breathed deeply before nodding. "I know what we need to do. Just call the cops. Please. I just hope we can find them soon."

Zack squeezed Aqua once more before placing a hand on her face. "I promise, we are going to find them. We're going to do whatever we can to get them back."

Removing his phone from his pocket, Zack started to dial 911. The phone rang several times before someone finally answered on the other line.

"Hello, 911, what's your emergency?"

Zack gulped slightly before answering. "I'd, uh, like to report a kidnapping."

Letting the authorities deal with the situation was the only thing they could do at the moment, unless they happened to think of something else. But they hoped that something could be found out soon.

* * *

Ventus was thrown harshly to the floor. He let out a shriek of pain when he felt his body hit the cold floor. Vanitas was next but let out nothing louder than a whisper. They were now in a rundown baren room with only a tattered mattress and a thin blanket on the floor.

"Now Vanitas," the man, who was Vanitas's real father, said. "You have been a very bad boy. Running away like that. But even worse…" his eyes turned to Ventus. "This child here was hiding you from us. And we can't have any of that."

He started to take a few steps closer to Ventus, a horrible and mean look in his eyes. But before he could do anything Vanitas stepped in front of him. "No!"

Vanitas's father stopped, glaring deeply at Vanitas. "What… did you say?"

"I… I said n-no! You can't hurt Ven…" Vanitas replied, losing all of the strength in his voice.

Vanitas yelped as his father gripped his hair tightly. "And who are you to try and speak up against me? Who taught you to do something like that?"

Vanitas let out a pained whimper. "J-Just… don't hurt Ven…"

"Hmmm you rather take his punishment for him? Double the punishment for you? I wouldn't mind that at all," Vanitas's father laughed. "Maybe it will teach you a lesson about not speaking against me!"

Ventus watched with wide eyes what happened next… though he wished he had closed his eyes… or covered his ears. Or better yet… he wished he had done both… for the images he saw next became branded into his mind.

* * *

After Vanitas's father stormed out and slammed the door shut Ventus ran over to Vantias. "V-Vani? You okay?"

Vanitas was curled up in the center of the room, sniffling and sobbing. His arms were wrapped around his legs and he was holding himself tightly. He didn't even look up when Ventus spoke to him, which only worried him even further.

"Vani… please talk to me. I'm right here…" Ventus said, trying to keep the tears from starting in his own eyes.

Slowly Vanitas lifted his head, and on his face were the fresh new marks. Ventus tried to suppress his tears, not wanting to alert Vanitas's parents, but he let some of them slip down his face. He wrapped his arms around Vanitas and held him gently, though he could feel his entire body trembling.

"Vani? We gotta be strong, mom and dad will come for us. They gotta…" Ventus whispered to Vanitas.

Vanitas didn't reply, he only let more tears stream down his face while burying his face into Ventus's shirt. He was in no place or mood to try to even talk. He was back in the place he feared most. The place he wanted to run away from and escape… he was back there.

And now Ventus was here with him… that scared him even more. He didn't want Ventus to get hurt, but he knew he couldn't trust his old parents to not harm them. He couldn't trust them at all. But maybe… if he pleaded, he could find a way to keep Ventus safe.

There was a bit of a rumbling sound that came from Ventus as Vanitas had his head resting on his supposed-to-be brother. Vanitas, still sobbing, raised his head and looked at Ventus, who had begun to clutch at his stomach.

"I'm hungry. When are we going to get food?" Ventus asked curiously.

Even though he was still upset, Vanitas tried to clear his voice enough so that he could speak. "I-I uh, only get food, i-if I'm good," the words stuttered out slowly.

"But we have been good though," Ventus insisted.

Vanitas only shook his head. "N-Not to them. N-Nothing i-is go… g-good for them…"

"But… but we gotta eat. I'm hungry," Ventus replied.

He had come to learn that Vanitas's old parents were not nice people, but to not have food? That seemed so mean. He figured that Vanitas had just had some issues before they had met. But he never imagined the environment that his new friend and brother had previously lived in was so deplorable.

Having never been in a situation such as this before, Ventus did not know what to do. When would they get to eat? How long would they be there? When would his parents come rescue them? Were they going to be trapped? All of those thoughts circled in his small head. He began to slowly whimper, like how Vanitas had been doing before. It was just becoming too much to think about.

"W-What are we gonna do?" Ventus whined.

"I-I don't know… I'm sorry. B-Because I ran away, now you are in trouble too…" Vanitas replied back, feeling regret over the situation.

Ventus held Vanitas again in a hug. "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault Vani. But I'm here for you. We will stay together. We're brothers, that's what we gotta do."

Vanitas's heart skipped a beat at the words. _Brothers._ That was something that really had began to mean a lot to him, and to hear Ventus say it in that moment made him tear up more. He liked having someone that cared, someone that was there for him. He hated that they were captured by his parents at the moment, but he was glad Ventus was there with him. Even though it was a selfish thought, it was what his heart felt as true. He just didn't say it aloud.

"T-Thank you Ven… that means a lot," Vani replied as he slowly put his arms around Ventus as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I forget to post yesterday? Oops. Well either we have gotten up the next chapter. The poor boys though, they at least have each other.


	14. Chapter 14

Aqua and Zack were sitting on the couch, just staring blankly at the wall. It had been about three days already since Ventus and Vanitas had gone missing. Neither one of them had really been able to sleep that well, Aqua having almost restless nights where she stayed awake crying mostly. Zack stayed up to try to comfort her most of the time as well. It had taken a toll on them.

The police had been on the search ever since they called them, but there had been no word of anything being discovered yet. They had given all of the information that they had to the authorities, and even had to tell them about how they found Vanitas in the first place. Unfortunately, that situation was going to be something that would have to be addressed after Vanitas was found, which was what they were afraid of. That only added to Zack and Aqua's stress too, Aqua especially as she was an emotional wreck.

Zack had even taken off work to deal with the issues and to try to help Aqua remain together through it all. He had even been trying to join in the search for his son and soon-to-be son. He was just glad that he had a boss that was understanding about everything.

* * *

_3 days ago_

"That's all the information we have at the moment, sir."

"All right then. We've noted everything and we've already got a team on the search as we speak. We will do everything that we can to find those children. Afterwards, though, there's the matter of the other boy as well. But we'll be taking our leave now," a burly officer spoke shortly before turning around and heading out of the door.

The detective that was with him walked up to Zack. "Here's our office number. If you think of anything, don't hesitate to call us."

"Right, thank you," Zack replied as the man then turned and left out of their house as well.

"Thank you so much. Please, find them," Aqua pleaded with them.

"We will do our best ma'am."

Once they were out of the doorway, Zack closed the door behind them. He breathed in quickly and tried to control himself. Meanwhile, Aqua buried her head in her hands and plopped back down on the couch, tears falling continuously. Zack hated to see her like that, and he knew he needed to be there for her.

Zack picked up his phone and began to dial a number on it. He needed to tell his boss what was going on after all. After a few rings, a deep, soft voice picked up.

" _Yes, Mr. Fair?"_

"Uh, hey sir -"

" _Zack, what have I told you about calling me sir. You have come this far, yet you still understand nothing. My first name will do,"_ the man interrupted him.

"Uh, yeah, um, sorry about that s- I mean, Ansem," Zack stumbled over his words, his mind still heavy.

" _Good. Now what can I help you with?"_

Zack took in a deep breath to try to calm himself a bit more if possible. "I need to be off for a few days. Family emergency. Please," he nearly begged, a sense of urgency had been in his voice.

Apparently the man named Ansem picked up on that odd tone as well. " _You sound stressed. What might be the problem?"_

Zack almost did not want to have to explain the situation, as it was still weighing heavily on his mind. But he knew that he would have to say something. "It's uh my son. And his friend… they're missing. We… we think someone took them…"

Without missing a beat, Ansem responded. " _Say no more. You have the time you need. I'll be over to your house shortly. Allow me to help. My vast reach could possibly help you in this time."_

"Wait, you would really do that!? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please, I'll do anything to find my sons."

Ansem noticed the plural form that Zack had spoken, but decided that was not the best time to engage in that topic. Instead, he focused on the matter at hand. " _Of course. This is distressing to hear. I'm on my way."_

With that, there was a click from the other side that Zack heard and the line fell silent. He was in shock at the prospect of Ansem helping him. He knew that the man was very well known and respected almost anywhere. Despite his wealth and influence, he was quite understanding and more than willing to help when needed. Zack breathed a sigh of relief amidst all the distress.

"Hey Aqua."

His blue-haired wife looked up with tears still in her eyes. "Y-Yes?"

"Ansem said that he is going to help us and anything we need just ask. Isn't that great?"

Her face changed slightly into some relief as well. "Oh that is good! Thank you so much Zack. I hope that it can help. I really really do. I miss them already…"

Zack went to sit down beside Aqua and threw an arm around her neck. "I know, I know. I hope it will help too. He said he's on his way over, so we'll see soon."

"Should we call Terra too? And some others?" Aqua asked.

"That would probably be a good idea. Let me take care of that then. You relax, do what you can okay?" Zack suggested as he kissed her gently and got up to go make a few more phone calls as they waited for Ansem.

Ansem had showed up only a bit after that and he was able to make a few calls to get things going. Ansem had then talked with the couple for a little while as they explained the situation to him. After some advice and kind words, he then made his leave. Before he left, he told Zack not to come back to work until their sons had been found and that he would not have to worry as he would be paid anyways. Zack and Aqua only knew to thank him, but apparently it was enough.

* * *

_Present_

"But it's been nearly three days now and we haven't made any headway. No leads, nothing," Aqua complained to Zack as they sat there once again.

Zack lacker his fingers with hers and have a gentle squeeze. "I know… but we aren't giving up yet. We're going to find them."

"We keep saying that… but the more days go by… the more I worry what's happened to them. They are probably so scared wherever they are."

A sigh escaped from Zack. "I wish that I could tell you not to worry, but it's hard not to. I'm worried, but also mad. Mad that I can't do anything else. I feel so helpless right now…" Zack grumbled.

Aqua leaned against Zack, letting out a long sigh. A few tears trickled down her cheeks. "I understand… I wish there was more we could do."

Before Zack could answer, a sudden knock at the front door drew their attention away from the saddening thoughts. They jumped to their feet and raced over to the front to see who it was, trying to hold a little hope for who it could be.

Without even looking through the peephole, they opened the door wide to see who it was. The two standing before them sported blue hair and red hair. It was Isa and Lea. A look of disappointment showed on Zack's and Aqua's faces, and it must have been apparent to the boys as well.

"Uh, do we need to come back later or something?" Lea asked curiously.

"Lea, don't be rude," Isa spoke to his friend before he turned back to the others. "We were coming over as planned like we talked about in the park a couple of days ago. We came early to see Ventus and Vanitas actually."

A knot formed in Aqua's stomach, and then Zack's. While Zack was able to hold his emotions together, Aqua seemed almost ready to cry again. She slowly lowered her head and almost buried her face in her hands. Without a word, she ran off to try and get away.

The truth was that they had only told a few people about Ventus and Vanitas missing. Unfortunately, they had not informed Isa and Lea nor their parents yet. Not only that, but amid all the turmoil, they had forgotten about the gathering they were supposed to have with Isa's and Lea's families. Zack felt a tinge of guilt about that, but it could not be helped. However, he knew that he would have to explain things now that they were here.

"Just come on inside. Take a seat. We um, need to go over something with you two anyways," Zack instructed, hoping the boys would follow suit.

Isa and Lea exchanged confused glances. They didn't understand why Aqua had acted the way she did or why Zack seemed so saddened. Either way they followed Zack into the house. They were led into the family room and took a seat on the couch while Zack sat in the chair across from them.

"So what's up?" Lea asked after a minute.

Zack sighed, lowering his head. "It's about Ventus and Vanitas…"

Lea tilted his head slightly. "What about them? Are they sick or something?"

"No not that. It would be so much easier if it was that. But… It's hard to explain… what happened was… Ventus and Vanitas have been kidnapped."

The young and innocent eyes of Lea and Isa widened. They looked completely caught off guard by the simplicity of Zack's powerful words. Neither of them had ever expected that to be the answer, but at least now they understood why Aqua may have run off moments before.

"K-Kidnapped?" Lea repeated quietly. "Why though?"

"We don't know," Zack responded. "But whoever took them are obviously not good people at all. We are doing all we can to find them don't you two worry. But we will find them."

"So… we won't get to see them for a while…?" Lea asked quietly.

"I'm sorry boys, but I'm afraid so," Zack replied while lowering his head.

"But… can we help?" Lea suddenly asked.

"Lea… it isn't our place to help," Isa cut in.

"Yeah, but Ven is our friend. And we just met Vanitas, but he seems like a fun friend too! So why can't we help?" Lea asked, trying to not get upset by Isa shooting down his ideas.

"Because we are only a few years older, there isn't anything we can really do but wait," Isa replied bluntly.

"That's not fair though! Ven and Vanitas are out there somewhere and they need help! We have to-"

"Boys please," Zack interrupted.

They both turned to look at the man and saw him running a hand over his face. He was weary and tired from the looks of it, something they hadn't noticed before. They always knew Zack as a strong and happy man, rarely did they ever see anything negative on his face. But right now they could see it as clear as day. Zack was so close to showing his hurt, yet he was still managing to keep most of it calm and serious, though parts of it now had slipped through the cracks. He wiped his eyes before he straightened himself up and looked at the two again.

"I know you two want to help, and I really appreciate it. But this is something far too dangerous. If it would make you feel better though, I can keep you guys updated on the situation. But please, leave this to the adults."

Lea really didn't want to let it go, but he didn't want to make Zack or Aqua upset either. Isa placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and gave him a look that said 'leave it alone'. After fighting against himself for a few more seconds Lea finally stopped.

"I-I understand then. Sorry about that. We just wanted to help. I hope that they are found soon though," Lea spoke in a defeated yet somewhat hopeful voice.

Isa nodded along with him. "Yes, we hope they will be okay. We're sorry for bothering you today."

Zack sighed. "It's okay boys. You didn't know. But it's just stressful. I'm trying to hold it all together right now. We appreciate the thought. But we just need some more time."

The boys both nodded and turned to leave as Zack opened the door back for them. They waved goodbye as they exited. Before the door closed, Lea gave his brightest smile to Zack. "Tell Aqua we hope that she feels better soon."

Zack smiled back and nodded. "Thanks Lea, I'll let her know."

Zack waved to the boys again and then closed the door. He let out a long sigh afterwards, trying to regain his thoughts on the matter. The subject was still clinging to his mind, pulling it down deeper and deeper. The weight was starting to hurt his chest and he was afraid of it beginning to crack… or worse break.

He tried to clear his mind though, not wanting Aqua to see him like that. He knew he had to be there to support her the most. A few deep breaths were taken as he left to go be with her for a time.

* * *

"Ugh I can't stand this! Why can't we help!?"

"You know what they said before. I mean, really though, what could we do? We're just kids?"

"Yeah I know. But still, it's better than doing nothing, Isa."

"Well what would you want to do then, Lea?"

Lea pondered for a moment before scratching his head in annoyance. "I don't know. I can't think of anything. I thought you were the one that could come up with these things."

"It's not simple though," Isa started as he tried to think of something.

As the two boys were walking back to Lea's house, they were trying to figure out a way to help their friends. Neither of them wanted to leave things be, but there seemed to be almost nothing they could do. Just when they were nearly back to their house though, a thought crossed Lea's mind.

"Wait… what if we just did our own thing without telling Ven's parents?"

"Okay Lea, you know that is not a good idea."

"Are you gonna stop me then?" Lea answered with a bit of a smirk.

Isa rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. Lea was always like that, constantly getting into trouble doing something. But if he were honest with himself, he wanted to help too. Lea was just a bit more brave than he was. He himself was scared, not only for himself, but for Lea as well. It was a battle inside of his mind, but he knew what needed to be done.

"No I won't stop you," he said finally as he opened his eyes and looked up to his friend. "I can't let you do it alone though. Someone has to be there to make sure you're not reckless."

"Who me? Reckless? I would never," Lea uttered sarcastically.

"Mhmm," Isa murmured back to him, his tone giving off a feeling of an eye roll. "Though… I'm worried about them too though," he finished off with a slightly more serious tone.

"See I knew it! You wanna help too. Then I guess it's settled then."

"Fine fine. But where do we even start?"

"Well, I don't know but we can figure it out right? Just meet here at my house tomorrow then?"

"That works then. Let's do that."

"All right! We'll meet at this time then. Got it memorized?" Lea asked as he placed a finger on his temple.

"Yea, I think that I do," Isa commented, a slow and wry smile coming to his face as he hoped that they could figure something out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As we move closer to the end, there is still so much to happen. Hope you all are still enjoying the devolpment!


	15. Chapter 15

Zack laid on his side with his arms wrapped around Aqua. She currently was curled up against him, with her head resting on his chest. She exhaled slowly as she tried to calm herself down, though the tears and pain in her chest still persisted.

Another day had passed and yet no new information was found. There was still no sign of any place that the children could be. It had gotten to the point where Zack and Aqua thought of putting a missing child AD in the papers for Ventus, hoping it could help. But they hadn't acted on anything yet.

"He's probably so scared…" Aqua mumbled. "I can't stop thinking about how scared he must be."

"I know… I keep thinking about it too," Zack replied, whispering in her ear.

"I keep having these nightmares Zack, I can't sleep anymore. I… can barely think straight," Aqua said before shuddering.

Zack tightened his hold on her and brought his face to hers. "Same… but I feel like we are close. We have to be… We will have our little Ven back soon."

"And Vanitas," Aqua added quietly.

Zack gave a slow nod. "And Vanitas, yeah. We will find them and keep them safe and sound from now on."

"It's still so awful… to think he had those parents that hurt him like that. He seems like such a good little boy. And now… they have him again… and Ven."

"Aqua, we don't know for sure that Vanitas's parents were the ones who took them," Zack replied. "I know it's what we want to think, but we don't have any proof of that."

"But it has to be them though! I don't know why, but I just feel it. You know what I mean right?" she said as she raised her voice.

"I think so, but we still can't jump to conclusions. We don't even know who his parents are. But… either way whomever took our boys is going to pay," Zack said, a deep and serious tone filling his voice.

Aqua wasn't sure what to say to that. She wanted the culprits to be held responsible for what they had done. It made her blood boil just thinking about it. On the other hand, she knew that Zack nor her should do anything rash if it was them, or whoever it was.

She just wanted to find them and get it over with, but with how little they had to go on, it felt like it may take much longer. And the longer she had to wait, the more she worried that the boys may never be found.

Zack gently kissed Aqua's forehead, snapping her from her thoughts. She looked at him and saw him smiling at her. "I know you're thinking the same thing, right? We are not going to give up. Even if it does seem hopeless sometimes. We will find them. I know we will."

"Yeah…" she sighed. "It's crossed my mind. But I try to not think about it. I'm glad you're so positive about things. I just hope we can get some kind of lead soon."

The sound of a bell ringing jarred both of them from their deep conversation. It only took them a few seconds to realize what that sound was that they had heard.

"Someone's at the door," Aqua commented as both she and Zack sat up from the bed.

Zack nodded as he got off the bed. "I wonder who it could be… wouldn't be Terra or anyone else. They would call us first."

"Maybe it's the police! Maybe they found something finally," Aqua said hopefully.

The two of them exited their room and headed to the front of the house. When they opened the door they were surprised to see an out of breath Lea followed by Isa, who was also short on breath. Lea leaned up against the doorway, still breathing heavily before looking up to see Aqua and Zack.

"Ah… we…. We have…. Som-something to tell you… guys," Lea breathed out as best as he could.

"Looks like you need a break. Come on in and just have a seat. It's fine," Zack said as he motioned for them to come into the house.

The boys followed quietly inside, though they started to seem a bit jittery the more they had to wait. Clearly there was something on their minds and neither boy could stay still. Aqua walked towards them and placed a hand on each of them.

"Now take a deep breath boys, and then you can tell us what you need to say."

Lea and Isa nodded. Though they looked at one another first, both giving each other a worried look. Finally Isa sighed and closed his eyes.

"We know you guys are the adults, and that you can handle it, but Lea and I… we accidentally stumbled across something," Isa said before sighing again. "We don't want to get into any trouble, but… we found where Ven and Vanitas are being held."

"Wait WHAT!?" Zack screamed as he pounced up in the air from the couch. The look on his face was one mixed between shock and elation, both emotions seeming to fight for control over which he should express more.

Aqua, meanwhile, grew wide-eyed and she started to form tears as well. "You f-found them? Oh… please. Tell us now… please."

Lea fidgeted in his seat again. "We were just walking… not really looking or anything. But we thought we heard something coming from a house. Like a kid crying or something. We snuck towards it and looked into the window… and we saw Ven there."

Aqua let out a short sob before covering her mouth. To hear that they saw her little boy crying, hurt her deeply. Ventus rarely ever cried… so if he was the one that had been crying, she knew that meant he must have been truly scared. She started to feel the tears drip from her face, though she tried wiping them away. She didn't want to show so much hurt and weakness in front of the boys, but it was piling up and boiling over inside of her. Thankfully Zack took notice and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close.

"It's all right dear. We will find them okay?" Zack started to try to calm Aqua down. He then turned back to Lea and Isa. "Thank you for telling us this. Where were they? Can you tell me the house?"

"It's not terribly far from where my house is, though it is a bit out of the way and one that is rarely seen because of all the trees around it," Isa explained as calmly as he could manage.

"Yeah, you can't really miss it. It's kinda green, and old and run down too," Lea added.

"Is there anything else that you can tell us about it?" Zack pursued.

They both nodded their heads as Isa spoke up. "That was about all we noticed really… we didn't have any more time to look because they chased us away."

"It's just good that you two weren't caught up in it too," Zack started. "Thank you both though. It's a big help."

"What do we do now?" Aqua asked Zack as her voice quivered through her wiping her face.

"I'm calling Terra first before anything else. Ever since he found out he hasn't stopped doing all that he could. He and his father. Don't want him to wear himself out too much," Zack tried to stifle a joke in there to lighten the mood if possible.

"Yeah, he's been a big help. Always finding time…" Aqua trailed off.

"What can we do then?" Lea asked curiously, interrupting the flow of thoughts.

Zack turned and knelt down in front of them. "Look, this is going to involve the police so please just sit here for now. Stay here with Aqua and keep her company okay? Can you do that?"

Lea looked like he wanted to argue again as he started to open his mouth. However, a slight nudge from Isa caused him to stop what he was doing and think. After that, the two boys gave a nod to Zack in understanding. Though, they then noticed that Aqua had a perplexed look on her face.

"Zack, I am _not_ staying here," she said sternly. "They are my responsibility too."

"I know, I know," Zack said before laughing. It was the first real laugh he had since Ventus and Vanitas were taken. "I knew that you wouldn't want to stay behind, I wouldn't either."

"Then let's go, we got to save our boys," Aqua said firmly.

Zack smiled as he saw Aqua stand up and put on a brave face. "Okay then."

He then turned to the other boys. "Okay, so you're gonna need to stay here for a bit. I would say go home but since that house is near there, I just want to watch out for you two. Besides, you can be here to greet the boys when they get back."

Lea and Isa nodded, understanding. Though they were curious about what was going to happen, they knew it would be best for them to wait. They wouldn't want to get into any more trouble today anyways, they already had too close of a call from before. So they agreed to stay put, after which Aqua hurried off to go get her things.

Zack pulled out his phone and notified the detective of what they had found out so that the police could already be getting ready to go. After that was done, he then called Terra as he said he would do. Though, they could hear the man through the other end of the phone, the emotion heavy in his voice when Zack told him of what had been found out.

"Yeah, I wanted to call you to let you know. You've been doing so much. We're gonna head over to where we think it is though. I've already called the authorities."

" _Where is it at? So that I can get there."_

"It's supposed to be a green, dilapidated house close to the area where Isa and Lea live, but kinda back in some trees."

" _Okay thanks, that's all I need to know. I'll find it. When I get my hands on them…"_

"Hey don't do anything too rash Terra. We don't need you getting in trouble."

" _Don't worry about me. It will all be fine. I'm going now so I'll see you there."_

Zack wanted to say another warning to Terra but the line went silent before he had a chance. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips. " _Terra, please just don't do anything stupid. Even though I would love to get a piece of them myself, I know that would only make things worse."_

"Did I hear you talking to someone?" Aqua asked as she returned to the room.

"Oh yeah," Zack started. "I called the detective, and then Terra. Told them all where it was. I suppose that I shouldn't have told him right away where the house was until we made sure the police were there…"

Aqua had a look of worry on her face. "You don't think he's gonna do anything rash will he?"

"Well, you know how he is. Well… uh, I guess how we are. Since we're kinda cut from similar cloth," Zack scratched the back of his head. "Let's just get over there quickly. Hopefully nothing will happen."

He gave one last nod to Isa and Lea before heading out the door with Aqua in tow. They hoped that they would still be in the same location and not moved by now. It was the only lead they had, and the only chance they had so far to find their boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The climax is building up! What will happen next? So much tension isn't there heh. 
> 
> As always thank you to all who read this.


	16. Chapter 16

To Zack and Aqua, the drive to the house was probably the most anxiety filled ride that they had ever felt. Each passing second raised the tension in their guts and weighed heavier in their minds. Zack breathed in and out slowly as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. He could feel the sweat from his palms building up, but he could not find any way to release the tension and tightness in his hands.

Eventually they pulled down the residential street and saw what was up ahead. They could already see two police cars parked in the street. Zack pulled the car over to the side of the street and parked the car. Just after the two of them got out they started to approach the scene, but one of the policemen turned around and stopped them.

"I'm sorry, but we will have to ask you to step back away from the scene," he said, holding up a hand to them.

"But our son and his friend are in there," Aqua said.

"We know ma'am, but this could be dangerous and we do not want to risk either of you also getting hurt," the policeman replied.

"Come on just let us -" Zack started, but soon stopped as he saw the look on the man's face. He knew that it would not be wise to try to proceed in there since it would only lead to his own detainment. Confliction arose in his being, but he ultimately ceased his motion and decided it was best to stay with Aqua.

"All right, we'll let you guys handle it. But we will stay right here," Zack informed.

The policeman nodded and started to walk the other direction. Another man came up to him to report in, so the one Zack had been talking to must have been the supervisor.

"Sir, the door is wide open. It was like that when we got here. And we've been hearing lots of yelling."

"Okay, just be on your guard and prepared to take action should anything happen."

Sure enough, there was quite a bit of yelling that zack and Aqua had not been paying attention to before. Though, one of the voices seemed strangely familiar to them.

" _I told you already, I am not going to leave!"_

" _I am sick of your face, you just need to get out, you stupid big bastard!"_

" _Not until you give those kids back!"_

" _As if. Whatdya think yer gonna do about it- Hey! What are you doing?!"_

" _Showing you what it feels like!"_

" _Put me down you motherf-"_

A loud crash was heard at the front of the house.

"AHHH!"

They all looked closer as someone came tumbling out of the front door. A slender man's body crashed onto the dirt outside of the front of the house directly on his face after he had cut a flip. A small dust cloud stirred up from where he landed, but nothing that would impede line of sight. None of them knew what was going on.

Just as that happened, another man came out of the house, who was rather taller and more built than the one on the ground. He quickly pounced onto the back of the other man and latched him into a chokehold while pressing his entire body down on the other's back.

"How does it feel to be hurt now? You're gonna stay down here in the dirt where you belong."

Zack sighed heavily as he looked at who the other man was. "Oh, Terra…"

The policeman that they had just talked to had apparently overheard what he said. He gave Zack a concerning look with a raised eyebrow. He then turned towards the others and gave them a nod.

They started to move in towards the pair of men on the ground. Terra kept the man pinned down to the ground until the police surrounded them. "Sir, we are going to have to ask you to step back now."

Terra was reluctant to do so. He wanted to keep putting pressure on the man below him. That man had caused Vanitas so much stress and pain, and just recently brought that same stress to Ventus. At least from what Terra could assume, though he had yet to actually find out if any damage had been done. The man deserved to be punished. But he soon acquiesced and allowed himself to come up as the officers moved in to arrest the other man.

"You're a sorry excuse of a human being," Terra spat at the man with the most oddly calm voice he could manage.

Soon though, he was being handcuffed himself. "We're going to have to take you in. You did assault someone at their own house. Despite your intentions."

Terra breathed out deeply. "I understand…" he muttered as he let them take him.

Zack and Aqua saw this and tried to call out to him, Zack being the first to speak. "Terra! Why are they taking you?"

"That's not right. He was just trying to help!" Aqua added in.

Terra turned towards the two of them and just shook his head, letting them know that it would all be okay.

The officer that was nearest the couple spoke up. "He still committed a crime too."

"Yeah, but-"

"Aqua. We'll figure this out," Zack said, cutting her off.

The other officers stormed into the house after everything else transpired. Shortly thereafter, they came out dragging a small, frail woman in handcuffs. Though, it seemed that she was even more foul-mouthed than the man, nearly every word she uttered having some sort of nasty overtone to it. They took her next to the main they had arrested as the police called in the report and were making sure of everything.

Aqua looked on as her blood pressure rose, and she could no longer stand the waiting. She marched up as close as she could get to the woman and man. She wanted answers for what happened. They had taken their baby boy, and she wasn't about to let that slide.

"Uh, hey Aqua where are you going? Hey. Hey!" Zack said as he tried to rush after her.

She finally approached the man and woman just as an officer was there to try to hold her back.

"I just wanna ask them a few questions. They took my son after all. Don't I at least have a right to do that?" Aqua asked loudly to the officer.

At first, he gave her a stern look that told her no. But after a few seconds, he seemed to sympathize with her with the way he looked at her. He lowered his guard and let out a huff of air. "All right but only on my watch. No funny business."

She turned to the people in question, who each gave her a go-to-hell look. "Just, why?" Aqua asked simply, her face a mixture of sadness and anger.

The man just huffed and looked away, not wanting anything to do with the conversation. He was obviously still riled up from what Terra had done to him, and Aqua figured he was also mad because they got caught.

"I'll ask again… why?" Aqua repeated sternly. "Why did you do what you did to him?"

"And what's it to you?" the woman scoffed.

Aqua tensed up but stood her ground. "Because no one deserves that kind of treatment. And you were going to do that to my son."

"You must think you're so high up. Prissy little bitch. Who cares? Little shit deserved it," the woman remarked with a sneering grin on her face.

"But… no… that's not right. That… that can't be it…" Aqua replied, trying to take in what she had just heard.

"He's a freak! You've seen those eyes. Those weird amber eyes. Nobody looks like that! And that damn hair too. Didn't get it from us."

Did she just hear that lady right? They actually enjoyed what they did, and didn't feel even a bit of remorse? It was just something that Aqua could not fathom. Zack had been standing by as well and heard everything that had happened.

"Alright, I think that's all we need to hear. Come on," the officer interjected as he led the foul-mouthed woman away.

It wasn't too long before she was thrown into a car along with who was presumably her husband. Before they took off though, there was a screaming match that broke out between the two of them, though nobody could really understand what it was. All that could be heard were many expletives repeatedly. But thankfully, the door was soon shut and they no longer had to be heard.

Zack and Aqua stood by still in disbelief at what had happened. But they still waited patiently outside for the only remaining people that needed to come out. The anticipation was nearly too much for either of them. But fortunately, they needed not wait much longer as one of the officers there came out of the house next, and latched onto her hand was Ventus, who was hanging his head. Another one came out right behind carrying Vanitas in his arms, and it was obvious that he was still crying.

"Ven! Vani!" Zack and Aqua shouted simultaneously.

They broke through the police line, no longer caring if it was something they should or should not do. Upon seeing the boys, their emotions immediately overtook them. They ran right up to them and they could see Ventus's eyes light up with joy. He let go of the policewoman's hand and ran to his parents with open arms.

"Mom! Dad!" Ventus shouted before being wrapped tightly in their arms.

"Oh Ven," Aqua sobbed as she held onto him tightly. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine," Ventus replied. "I really missed you mom and dad!"

"And we missed you too buddy," Zack added.

By now the other policewoman had walked over to them, still holding a sobbing Vanitas. Aqua stood up and looked at Vanitas, she could see fresh bruises on his face and tried her best to keep from breaking down again. So instead she started to reach out, but just before she could put her hand on Vanitas she stopped.

The police woman shook her head at Aqua. "Ma'am, I'm afraid we can't' let you take this one with you. With his parents being arrested we need to bring him to some place safe for now, until everything can be dealt with."

"But! We've been-"

"Aqua," Zack said firmly, making his presence known. Aqua didn't want to back down, but she knew that it was the best thing.

"I want Vani to stay with us though!" Ventus whined as he overheard the conversation.

"Ven, please just stop for now," Zack insisted, giving his son a stern look to not say anything else.

Zack turned to the officer. "We understand. Do you think though, that my wife could hold him for just a moment? So he feels a bit more safe?"

The woman considered it for a moment before answering. "Just for a moment."

Aqua then turned to the black-haired boy in the officer's arms and spoke. "Vanitas? Hey, is it all right if I hold you?"

Vanitas looked at her with his fearful eyes. He whimpered and still looked so hesitant. But Aqua breathed in slowly and tried again. "I am so sorry that this happened. Zack and I are never going to let this happen to you again. We promise you that."

Vanitas lowered his head slightly, averting his gaze from her.

"We love you Vanitas and we only want to help. So please, can we help?"

Vanitas slowly looked up again, his eyes still wide and scared. But Aqua smiled gently at him and waited. She would be as patient as she could with Vanitas, even if it did take some time. Vanitas then started to reach out to Aqua. He didn't say anything, by Aqua could tell what he wanted by the look in his eyes. She took him into her arms and held him close to her chest.

"I got you now, and I am going to make sure that it stays that way," Aqua whispered to him. "Zack and I are going to make sure that you get to stay with us and we will make sure you get all the love that you need. But listen. It will take some time. You'll have to go with the policewoman here okay?"

Vanitas looked scared. "B-But I… I wanna stay with you…"

"We know," Zack answered. "But it's out of our hands. We're going to do what we need to do to get you back with us okay? Please just trust us."

Vanitas only whimpered, not really understanding what was going on. The words that Zack and Aqua spoke to him he heard clearly, but wasn't sure what it all meant. He wouldn't get to be with them? But why? All of those questions circled in his small mind. Soon, he started crying again.

"Please don't cry Vani," Aqua pleaded as she embraced him tightly again.

"Okay, we need to get him to the hospital and then contact child services," the officer said, motioning for them to hand Vanitas back.

Reluctantly, Aqua did so, even with Vanitas crying for her not to let him go. She started crying too, feeling like they were losing him all over again. It may have only been for a short time, but she had become attached to the small boy, treating him as her own son. Luckily though, Zack was there to embrace her and give her some comfort.

"I will say one thing though," the policewoman started, causing Aqua and Zack to look at her. "I'm a mother myself, I understand wanting to love and protect a child. This one will be well-taken care of. But if you want to see about adopting him, call child services and they will set up an appointment properly for you to go through the correct procedures. That's the only way."

"Thank you for the information," Zack said shortly.

The officer turned and started to walk away from them. As she did, Vanitas looked back and held out his hands towards the people that had been caring for him. Ventus and Zack looked on in silence and waved at him, while Aqua spoke up once again.

"Vani, I promise we will get you back! Just wait. And things can be like they should from now on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are now! Terra was... well Terra and now the boys are safe!! But we still have far more to go! Thank you all for reading so far and hope you enjoy the remainder for the story.


	17. Chapter 17

The next several months started to move very slowly. Quite a lot had happened after the rescue of the boys from back then. A court case had to be held to remove all custody of Vanitas's original parents, who had subsequently been arrested and thrown in prison for multiple crimes regarding what they had done. It had been made clear they would not be getting out any time soon. And furthermore, the paperwork had started as well so Aqua and Zack could adopt Vanitas for themselves. But it was proving to be quite the arduous process.

But there was also so much more than just those two things. There were also multiple therapy sessions that Vanitas had to go through, to try and help work through some of his issues. That was the hardest part of everything though for him, but it was better help than he had ever received. Of course, all of that was done by the state as they were not his legal guardians at the time.

Zack and Aqua also had Ventus go to a few of them, worried about how much he had been traumatized from the event of being kidnapped. Coincidentally, doing so allowed them to also be around Vanitas since he had been with Ventus whilst they were held captive. They were all happy to be around him as much as they could, and Vanitas also seemed much happier when he was around them.

Despite all that was going on, the lighter news was that Terra did not have to go to jail, and only had to do some community service to make up for what he did. He gladly accepted it, still feeling what he did was right. Zack and Aqua knew that they only had to thank Ansem for that. His resources were far more powerful than they could have ever expected, but they were thankful for that.

Things were finally seeming to get back to normal now though as Ventus seemed to be over the issues he had been experiencing and had returned to his bubbly self. Zack and Aqua were happy to see it though, and it was a relief to know that he did not have any lasting damage. Though, there was something on all of their minds one day when they had gotten home.

"When are we gonna get to have Vani again?" Ventus asked curiously with hopeful eyes.

"Soon," Aqua answered simply.

"But how soon is soon?" Ventus asked.

Aqua let out a sigh. "I don't know how soon, but I promise you that Vanitas will be back in our arms before you know it."

"Promise?" Ventus asked as he held out his pinky, wanting that confirmed extra bit of promising.

Aqua chuckled and reached out to lock pinkies with Ventus. "I promise Ven."

* * *

Several more months passed, and that required more paperwork and meetings with social workers. Currently they were in a small meeting room with the social workers as well as Vanitas, who sat between the two of them. And it was another day filled with important questions. There was one question that they had been considering since going to adopt Vanitas.

Aqua looked to Zack, wondering which one of them would speak first, but then Zack decided to take the turn this time. "So Vanitas, we're just about done and ready to adopt you, that sound exciting?"

Vanitas nodded quickly. "Yeah. I like that."

"But, we have an important question to ask you before we get to finish it up. Since we are adopting you, and there is a lot of importing writing that we got to do, there is one optional part of this."

Vanitas tilted his head to the side. "Optional?"

Aqua smiled. "It means it is something we can do, but we don't have to."

"What is it?"

"Well," Zack started. "We know how poorly your… old parents treated you. So if you wanted, we can fill out some paperwork to change your name to something else."

Vanitas looked at Zack and Aqua with wide eyes. "Change my name? So I wouldn't be Vanitas?"

"That's only if you wanted, if I remember you were scared or not very happy with your name before. So if there is a name you really want, we can work to change that for you," Aqua answered.

Vanitas hummed and thought about it, but he quickly shook his head. "No, I wanna stay as Vanitas. Ven really likes my name, so that's why I wanna keep it."

Zack and Aqua both smiled at him. "Well okay then. Then we can keep the name the same then. Ventus will be happy to hear that," Zack chuckled as he finished speaking.

"So um… when can I come?" Vanitas asked curiously to them.

"It will happen soon enough, and we can't wait. Just a little while longer okay?" Aqua spoke to him sweetly, hoping that he would understand.

Vanitas just nodded his head slowly. It seemed he did get it, but also that he was a bit down that he would not get to go with them that day. But he still was happy to know that the day would be coming soon.

* * *

_A few days later_

It was pouring rain on the way home from town. The precipitation beat against the windshield of the car, making it hard to see the road at times. Luckily, it was still daylight outside so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Zack squinted hard as he tried to make sure he could see what was happening on the road. Aqua was quiet for the most part as she sat next to him. But occasionally, she would turn her attention to the back of the car, a smile creeping onto her face each time.

"You okay Vanitas? You're awfully quiet," she stated as she kept her gaze fixated on him.

He brought his eyes up to meet hers. "Yeah, I'm fine… just wish the rain would stop…"

"Yeah, I understand. It really shouldn't be raining on such a good day for all of us," Aqua said simply and kept giving him a warm smile.

Eventually, a small curl appeared on Vanitas's mouth, trying to form into a smile. He knew it was a special day and he thought he would be more excited than he was. But he wondered if maybe his brain had not fully processed what the situation was.

"Would you like to hold my hand?" Aqua asked as she reached her hand back towards Vanitas.

Vanitas nodded and reached out his hand to take hers. All of the worries he currently had melted away and he started to feel a lot better about the situation. But there was still a bit of away to drive home, and that still meant more waiting. But as long as he was here with his new parents he knew it was going to be okay.

* * *

"Hey no fair! I had you."

"You only thought you did. You'll have to be quicker than that."

"Alright then. I'll get you this time Terra!"

Ventus took off running towards the big, burly man in their game of tag they had been playing. Terra was watching over Ven while Ven's parents were gone, and both of them were enjoying their time together. They had mainly just been playing games for the past few hours after having a good lunch together earlier. Ven never seemed to run out of energy, but fortunately for Terra, neither did he. Both of them were impatiently waiting on Zack and Aqua's return.

The house had been illuminated brightly as they played before. Though, the sunlight that had been in the sky had faded and was replaced by clouds and rain. But as more time had passed in the afternoon, the sun slowly started to peak out from the clouds again, which caused a rainbow to appear in the sky. It was something that could be seen right out of the window.

"Wow look at the cool rainbow!" Ven said as he ran up to the window and planted his face against it to get a full view.

"Yeah, would you look at that. That means that the rain is going to stop soon and it's going to be sunny once again," Terra said as he stood next to Ventus.

"Oooh! And that means mom and dad can come home too?"

"They shouldn't be gone too much longer I don't think," Terra reassured his little cousin.

Ventus bounced up and down. "And then I can see what their surprise is. You think it's Vani?"

Terra chuckled. "I actually don't know. They wouldn't tell me, so I guess I'll be surprised too."

The two of them continued to play around for a few more minutes after staring outside. Soon though, there was the sound of a car door shutting, which Ventus immediately heard. He ran to the window to look back outside again and saw their family car outside.

"Mom and dad are back!"

Without waiting for Terra, Ventus ran to the front door and opened it. The door swung open and Ventus ran outside, not even caring to put on his shoes. The still wet ground started to soak his socks, but he didn't care. All that he cared about was going to see his parents, though he stopped in his tracks moments before getting to the car.

The side door was open and he saw someone else standing there. His face lit up even more and he thought his face was going to break from his large smile. "Vani!"

Ventus ran over to the car just as Vanitas got out of it. He could see a smile coming across Vanitas's face before wrapping his arms around him. "You're back Vani!"

Vanitas let out a small 'eep' when Ventus suddenly hugged him, but in the next moment he relaxed. The warmth of the hug flowed over him and he found himself to be smiling in return. He was finally able to see Ventus again, his first best friend and now brother. He buried his face into Ventus windswept hair and breathed out a long sigh of relief.

"I'm back yeah, I really am back," Vanitas whispered to Ventus. "I missed you Ven."

"I missed you too Vani. I was worried you might not get to come," Ven replied back to him.

Zack and Aqua couldn't help but have a large smile across their faces at the sight. The reunion was something they had been looking forward to for the past few months. But they let the boys have their own moment for now as they stood back and watched.

Terra came to the door of the house and looked down at them and smiled. "Well it looks like they did bring Vanitas back, right Ven?"

Ventus just nodded his head quickly. "Mhmm. And now Vani is here to stay right?"

Aqua smiled again. "That's right. You two are now officially brothers."

Ventus grinned with glee. "You hear that Vani?! We're brothers! That means we get to play together all the time! That sounds fun right?"

Vanitas nodded and smiled back upon seeing Ventus's happy grin. "Yeah, sounds fun."

Zack now was the one to approach the boys. "We're all going to have fun together. That's what a family does and Vanitas," Zack paused before he looked to his new son. "we are very happy that you get to be apart of it."

They all embraced in a small hug, happy to all be together. None of them said a word and just allowed themselves those moments to relax and enjoy the time they had.

As they were doing so, Aqua then remembered something. "Hey Zack. Remember way back when I let you get that toy and you said you'd let me have anything I wanted?"

Zack appeared puzzled at the sudden comment. "Um, with everything that's happened that had not really been on my mind. But yeah, I do remember now. What's up?"

She smiled. "Well, I'm taking you up on that offer. What about we all go have our first dinner as a family tonight?"

Zack's eyes beamed with excitement, as he looked down at Ventus and Vanitas, who were also seeming happy. "Oh that would be great! You hear that boys? Let's not waste any time then!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are finally happy for the family again!! We still got some more chapters though for a nice good conclusion arc.


	18. Chapter 18

Evening had finally come, and it was around 10pm. Zack and Aqua saw Ventus and Vanitas to their bedroom to bid them goodnight. Ventus and Vanitas both snuggled into their beds as Aqua gave them each a goodnight kiss and Zack watched on from the door, smiling ear to ear. After their mother turned to leave, Zack met her at the door, whispering something in her ear. She gasped slightly as a hint of redness came to her face. Then Zack led her out of the room and closed the door behind them, leaving the boys alone.

Ventus had seen it happen before, but Vanitas was curious, not knowing what was going on.

"Umm, what was that about?"

Ventus looked over at his best friend and adopted brother. "Oh, I don't know really. I've seen it a couple of times, but I guess it's something that only adults understand," he trailed off.

"Maybe so… Oh well, I guess it's fine. Hopefully we can get some sleep though, Ven," Vanitas spoke calmly to his brother as he turned on his side.

"Yeah it's that time after all. Well, goodnight Vani."

The two of them laid in their beds for a few minutes, trying to drift off into sleep. Vanitas stared wide eyed at the wall, hoping that he would get tired but he was still kind of energized from the day's events. Not only that, but he was thinking about a lot of things, mainly the situation that he was in now. He could still hardly believe that he seemed to have a good home with a caring family. It was all that he ever wanted, but his skepticism had not left him just yet.

Suddenly, some loud snoring came from the other side of the room. Vanitas turned his head slightly to see that Ven was sprawled out on his back. He was fast asleep. "Wow, I wish that I could sleep that easily," Vanitas lamented before turning back to his side.. He wanted to wake his brother but he knew that he should not.

As he lay there some more, he started intently listening to the tick of the clock. Every second that went by, there was a noise, so he started counting just to pass the time. After a while, he counted up to 100 ticks almost twelve different times. He tried to keep counting but his eyes had begun to grow heavier with each tick until he finally was able to close his eyes.

* * *

Now there was some noise coming from somewhere, but Vanitas could not place where it was originating from. It sounded like some faint bumps every now and again. Then he started to hear some voices, but could not make out what they were saying as it was just some mumbling to his ears. He shifted in his bed and turned over to keep from hearing them. He winced his eyes a couple of times before finally opening them.

"Oh it was just… dream…" he said sleepily before yawning one time.

Then, he heard the noises again. It made him become a bit more aware now, and his mind focused on what it was he was hearing. After listening closer, the sound almost sounded like it was coming from the room next door, which would be where their parents were. He leaned closer to the wall to try to hear, his curious mind not being able to stand not knowing. A few more bumps were heard, as well as something that sounded almost queaky, almost like how his bed would sound sometimes.

"I wonder if mom and dad are having some trouble sleeping too then," he wondered aloud while keeping his voice in a hushed volume.

He tried to focus even more now on what was going on, but all he could hear was some small mumblings. Nothing was very clear so he had no idea what was being said or what was going on. Maybe he should go and check on them? Maybe it could help him sleep better if he was with them tonight.

Vanitas started to crawl out of bed, his mattress making a squeaky sound as he moved. Amid all his listening earlier, he had been too focused on what was coming from another room to notice that Ventus was awake and had already moved. He could see his brother's eyes open as they landed squarely on him now.

"V-Vani? What are you doing?"

Vanitas stared at his brother for a moment. "Um, I just couldn't sleep well… so I was gonna go see mom and dad. I heard some noises too so I think I would feel better if I slept with them."

"Noises? Coming from where?" Ven asked sleepily.

Vanitas pointed his hand to the wall perpendicular to his bed.

Ventus averted his eyes briefly and then spoke up. "Uh… maybe you should just let me try to help you tonight. You don't wanna bother mom and dad if they are sleeping…" he trailed off slowly.

"But I don't think they are," Vanitas started. "It sounds like they were having issues sleeping too, or something like that. So I'm just gonna go and see."

As Vanitas started to walk forward, Ventus reached out and grabbed his brother's arm. "No! Look... uh, mom and dad said that if there are noises there then we are not supposed to bother them."

Vanitas flinched slightly at Ventus grabbing hold to him, but then relaxed himself, knowing there was no harm there. He focused his attention. "But why not though?"

"J-Just because okay?"

"But it's nighttime though, what could be going on then?" Vanitas asked curiously, trying to think to himself about it.

"Just don't think too hard on it Vani. Look, let's just ignore it and go back to sleep, all right?"

"I can't sleep though… I woke up and was just restless. I wanted mom and dad…" he trailed off with a hint of sadness in his voice as it grew quieter.

Ventus looked at his brother concerningly before giving him a hug. Vanitas was surprised, but before he could say anything, his brother spoke up. "You wanna just sleep with me tonight if you're having trouble? Maybe that will help."

His mind darted back and forth between his options that he could take before finally deciding that he would just listen to Ventus. With a heavy sigh, he nodded his head. "O-Okay... maybe that will help. Thanks."

The two boys then crawled back in bed, Ventus getting into his bed first. Vanitas soon followed, opting to lay on the outside of the bed. It was barely big enough for the two boys, but they were able to make it work. Ventus turned over on his side facing the wall as Vanitas just laid on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"I'm gonna try to sleep now," Ventus spoke as he yawned heavily.

"Oh, okay then. I'll try…" Vanitas said, his words trailed off as he spoke.

He knew that he would not be able to fall asleep yet. His mind was still churning about what could be going on with his parents. Why would they not want to be bothered? He hoped he was not being too much of a burden to them. But soon, his mind stopped wandering as he grew tired, and the next morning he had forgotten about what was weighing on his mind.

* * *

The next three months passed by quickly as Vanitas settled in more to his new home and family. Over that time, he had become more comfortable around all of them and things were starting to progress normally. He even had finally been able to start school, which was a big step for him. He still had trust issues with people he did not know, but the counselors, as well as his parents, were able to help him adjust better. Most of all, Ventus was the biggest help, being the best and kindest brother Vanitas could ever ask for.

This morning, he sat up in bed and yawned loudly. He had been sleeping well lately, and felt refreshed after a long day of playing the previous day. After he blinked a few times, slowly finding himself to be more awake. Then, he turned around to see that Ventus was still sleeping soundly. He figured he might as well go ahead and wake him up, so he started to shake Ventus.

"Hey, wake up Ven. It's morning time already. Come on," he kept on at his brother.

Finally, Ventus started to moan a bit before blinking a few times. "Ugh, w-what? Vanitas? Oh it's morning already?"

"Yeah, it is. Let's go get some food. I think I can smell it."

Ventus sniffed slightly. "Oh yeah!" he said with an elated tone, suddenly having some energy in him.

Both of them wanted food badly, so Ventus jumped out of bed quickly. He and Vanitas then marched out of the room and headed downstairs towards the tasty aroma. Once they hit the last step, they walked down the hallway until they reached the last door on the right and turned to enter into the kitchen. Zack was already at the table waiting while Aqua had apparently just finished breakfast and was placing the food down on the table.

"Good morning Ven. Good morning Vani," she greeted each of them individually.

Ventus was the first to speak. "Morning mom!" he replied with cheer as he sat down at the table and waited for food.

"Hey, morning," Vanitas followed up.

"Hey I'm here too ya know?" Zack reminded them with a pout, though they knew that he was just kidding around with them.

"Morning dad," the two spoke in unison.

Their father had a big, silly grin on his face as he chuckled mildly. And while he always seemed so upbeat and energetic, the boys both noticed that he seemed a bit happier than normal. Which for him was quite an achievement considering he was like a 'lost puppy that had found his home.' At least that was what their mother had told them before in a joking manner.

As Aqua sat the food down on the table, she threw a glance over to Zack, who smiled wryly at her as she exchanged it back as the two of them inched their faces closer before laughing at one another. Ventus chuckled at what he had seen as he was used to seeing it every now and again, and it was nice to see his parents so happy. Vanitas, however, stared curiously, wondering what all that was about. He wanted to be glad that everything was happy, but his skepticism was still ever present.

Now that Aqua finally sat down at the table, the four of them could begin with breakfast now.

"Oh boy, it really all looks so good! You must have put extra care into this food!" Zack exclaimed before hurriedly digging in.

Aqua stifled a small giggle. "Excited as usual. I'm glad you think so though. It's partially thanks to you too."

Zack cocked his head to the side. "Partially? I think I deserve a bit more credit than that."

The two of them eyed each other before another round of laughter then broke out between them.

Vanitas stared at Ventus, as if asking him with the look in his eyes as to what was happening. The golden-haired boy just shrugged slightly at his brother. He then pointed to his parents before speaking to Vanitas. "I dunno what it is. But, it's kinda funny to see them like that, right?"

The black-haired youth shot a glance over towards his adoptive parents, who were still laughing at each other, or with each other. Vanitas was unable to tell which it was though. He wanted to join in too, but he had no idea why they were even elated at the moment.

"Hey, what's funny?" he asked curiously, with a shy undertone in his small voice.

Their mother was barely able to hear him, but when she did, she turned her attention towards her newer son. "Did you say something Vani? Sorry, I didn't quite catch it."

"I was just wondering what was funny," he spoke up a little bit louder..

"Oh," Aqua began. "It was just something kinda between us. At least for right now."

"You don't have to worry about it. Now come on, let's not let the food get too cold," she continued, trying to avert him from the subject.

Vanitas quit asking for the moment, then grabbed a plate and finally looked at all of the food. His eyes widened once he examined all the food present. There were some nicely browned waffles with sweet maple syrup that smelled quite delicious. Accompanying that was some long sausage links that still slightly simmered with golden biscuits that emanated some steam as they had been the most recent item finished. Scrambled eggs were also on the table, sporting a bright yellow color with light dashes of salt and pepper his mother had just added. It was a traditional looking morning feast, and one that Vanitas started to salivate over.

"Well if you're not going to dig in first then I will," Zack stated to the room, quickly hovering over the food and filling his plate full of a little bit of everything.

As his father was finishing filling his plate, Vanitas looked back at his mother. He was still curious. "But why does it have to be a secret?"

Aqua turned to look at him, a thoughtful look over her face. "Oh well, Zack and I were just waiting for the right time to talk about it."

"Why though? Why can't we know now?"

"Ah well," Aqua turned to Zack while trying to find her words. She smiled at her husband a moment later. "You know, I suppose breakfast time is better than later to tell them, you agree?"

"Yeah, I am not sure how much longer I can keep it contained," Zack replied, grinning widely.

Vanitas looked at his brother, wondering why their parents were grinning so much this morning. He shrugged slightly before looking back at his parents. He saw them as they then exchanged worried looks with each other. He was unsure what was going on, or why what he asked seemed like such a big deal either.

"Today is a very special day," Aqua started. "And we wanted to make sure we could do all that we could to make it as magical and fun as possible."

"Magical and fun? But for what?" Vanitas asked.

Aqua smiled once more. "Well, it is something special for you Vani."

Vanitas tilted his head to the side. "For me?"

"That's right," Zack answered. "You know when we adopted you, we got all the details on you. You know info on hair color, eyes, and various other things like blood types. All that complicated stuff, but-"

"Get to the point," Aqua said, nudging him slightly, though she did it in a friendly manner all while chuckling.

"All right, All right. Anyways, what we want to say is that we finally found out when your birthday was. So, today is that day Vanitas," Zack finished, wearing a big smile on his face.

"Yes it is, so that's what's special about today. It's _your_ special day," Aqua added.

"My… my birthday?" Vanitas asked softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is time for some mini birthday fun for the little Vanitas child! So hope you all enjoy the next stuff to come as always :)


	19. Chapter 19

" _My… my birthday?" Vanitas asked softly._

He had known about the word before, but he never knew too much about what it really meant. All he knew was that it was the day that he was born, but he didn't understand why they seemed so excited about it. Why would they want to be so happy and wanting to enjoy one little day like that? Vanitas couldn't understand it, but everyone around him seemed to and they all seemed really excited for it.

"Of course, and we are going to make the most of today to celebrate it," Aqua replied.

"Yay! Vani's birthday is today! That means we can go out for food and go to fun places, right? Right?" Ventus asked as he bounced up and down in his chair.

"Yeah we could go to the toy store again and get some more toys," Zack suggested, grinning happily.

"Vanitas can get toys, not you honey," Aqua replied as she crossed her arms.

"Huh? Oh yeah I know that, totally get it," Zack said all while smiling innocently.

"Can we go out and do more fun things for Vani?" Ventus asked. "More than just toys."

"Well it all depends on what Vanitas wants, okay?" Aqua said as she turned to look to Vanitas, who still had a very confused expression on his face.

"But… but why?"

Aqua, Zack, and Ventus all turned to look at Vanitas, whose eyes were growing wider by the second.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked. "Why what?"

"Why… why do you want to celebrate my birthday? I don't see why you want to."

"Oh Vani," Aqua said as she moved to wrap her arms around her son. "A birthday is a very special thing. You celebrate it with your family because it is the day you were born and we all want to cherish it."

"But I never had a birthday before…" Vanitas replied as he lowered his head.

"But you can have one now Vani! We will help you have the best birthday ever!" Ventus said as he looked to his brother.

Vanitas slowly lifted his head, the words said by his new family crawling into his heart and warmed him. He smiled as he looked around to each and every one of them. "Thank you. But what can we do? What do we do for a birthday?"

"We can do all sorts of fun stuff! Like we can go see a movie! Go to the toy store like dad said. Or… or go to mini golfing! Or anything fun we can think of!" Ventus explained as quickly and as loudly as he could.

"Anything fun? Mini golfing? I don't know what would be really fun though…" Vanitas sighed heavily.

Aqua hummed softly. "Hmm, then we shall surprise you with the best things we can think of. How does that sound?"

"I guess. You guys know more about birthdays than me," Vanitas replied.

Zack placed a hand on top of Vanitas's head, ruffling his hair. "Don't worry. We are going to make sure you have the best birthday ever… technically your first, but it is going to be the best you've ever had!"

"Yeah it will be great Vani!" Ventus cried out in excitement.

Vanitas looked around at all of them, not knowing really what to say. He knew this was what he had always wanted, but after all this time, it was surreal that he had it. After choking back tears, he finally found his words. "Th-Thank you. It means a lot. I hope it's all good."

Just as he finished speaking, there was a solid knock on the front door.

"Who could be here this early in the morning?" Aqua asked as she stood up and waltzed over to the door to peer out.

"Well, you'll see," Zack chimed in, sounding cheery in what he was saying.

Aqua shot him a glance of confusion and a look that said 'why-don't-you-tell-me'. However, Zack just sat there and waited for the door to open. The door popped open and the person standing there was a complete surprise to Aqua.

"Oh, Terra? I didn't expect you or anything. Please, come in."

"Well of course I am here. After Zack told me what today was, I figured I would stop by. I mean, if that's okay of course."

"Yeah, yeah, that's not a problem. You're family anyways, so you're always welcome," Aqua assured him as she closed the door after him.

"Terra!" Ven shouted as he shot up from his seat and ran straight into his older cousin, trying his best to give him a bearhug.

"Haha, hey there bud. Good to see you," Terra replied.

He then walked over to where Vanitas was still sitting. He placed a hand on his head and began to ruffle his hair. "Hey Vanitas, how is my new little cousin doing?"

"I'm good. And I found out it's my birthday today," Vanitas replied.

"Well that sounds great! And it's actually the reason I am here," Terra said, smiling largely. He then looked to Zack and Aqua. "Have you two figured out any plans for today?"

Zack and Aqua shared a glance with each other quickly. Zack seemed to be thinking for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly, I guess we had not thought that far yet. We were just going to discuss it soon though right dear?"

"Yeah, there were a couple of ideas that I had thought of since Vanitas said that he didn't know what he wanted. But we hadn't talked yet," she stated.

Terra chuckled for a moment. "Well, just hold off on those possible ideas. I thought ahead and actually reserved a place for everyone to go. Figured it might be a good place for the whole family."

"Oh? What did you have planned?" Aqua asked.

"Is it someplace fun?" Ventus added as he walked back to Terra and stared up at him.

"Oh you bet it is," Terra said. "The most fun place I could think of."

"Is it your toy store?" Ventus then asked.

Terra laughed. "No, it is better than that."

"What is it then?" Vanitas finally asked, trying to think of what could be cooler than the toy shop they had gone to before.

"Yeah! Tell us! Tell us!" Ventus shouted as he grabbed onto Terra's pant leg.

"All right," Terra smiled before laughing once more. "I booked a party reservation at Choco Cheese's."

Ventus's eyes lit up and widened as far as his kid eyes could let them. "Choco Cheese's?! Yay!"

"Wow, I didn't expect that," Zack replied. "But hey that's great you did that Terra, thanks!"

Vanitas tilted his head to the side, trying to understand the excitement from Ventus. "What's… Choco Cheese's?"

Ventus gasped in shock. He ran over to Vanitas and smiled widely. "It's the coolest place ever! They have cool arcade games and you can get tickets! And with the tickets you can get prizes! Really cool prizes! And sometimes they even have a REAL chocobo that you can ride and pet out in the backyard of the building! It's the greatest place ever!"

Vanitas blinked slowly. He had been slightly startled from his brother's sudden speech, but what he heard sounded amazing. "Whoa, that sounds cool."

"But that's only five of us," Aqua said. "That's a small group to book a party for."

"I thought about that. So aside from the five of us, my father will also come. Vanitas has to meet his uncle at some point now doesn't he? And then of course Ven and Vanitas's best friends Isa and Lea. So that puts the party total at eight, which I think is a good enough number for a small party."

"That's a great idea!" Zack exclaimed as he stood up and walked over to Terra. He put his arm around his cousin then. "See, you _do_ have a good brain under all that brawn," Zack noted sarcastically as he laughed aloud.

Terra shot him a sharp glare. "Very funny coming from a puppy with no attention span."

Zack stepped back. "Hey now!"

After a small brief silence, the two of them started laughing about it all. Soon after, Aqua and Ventus had even joined in, enjoying Terra's joke about Zack much more than anything else. Vanitas even started to chuckle at the comment some, the joyous laughter becoming almost contagious.

"So can we go now?" Ventus asked. "I wanna get going so I can show Vani how cool it is!"

"Of course we can get going!" Terra said.

"First," Aqua started, interrupting the boys. "We have to finish breakfast. Then we can go."

"Aw…" Ventus sighed.

"Hey, you heard your mother," Zack said. "We will all finish our food, and then we can get ready to head out and have a great day."

"All right!" Ventus said as he ran back to his chair. "Doesn't this sound fun, Vani? We get to have a really fun birthday party for you!"

Vanitas nodded quickly, feeling more excited by the minute. "Yeah! I can't wait!"

* * *

Vanitas held Ventus's hand as they walked away from the car. They were now in a parking lot and walking towards a building across the way. It looked rather large to Vantias, perhaps as large or even larger than Terra's toy store. He was surprised that he had not noticed it before with how large it was, but looking at it now was something that excited him.

It was a large, brick-layered building that looked as though it stood two floors high. The brick was contrasted with some bright, yellow colors that outlined the rest of the building. The design itself was rather simple, but it was enough to draw some attention. The front of the building had a lot of decorative images, but what drew Vanitas's attention was the bright colorful sign that read _Choco Cheese's_. It even had a fluffy image of a cartoony, yellow chocobo next to it, as if displaying the title.

As they walked into the building, everything became much louder than Vanitas had expected. There were lights and sounds swirling all around as music played in the distance and up above their heads from the sound of it. There were tables and chairs a little bit farther away from the entrance area, off in one side of the building that looked to be where people would eat. Around the other side appeared to be some games for the most part, with a bar area in the middle of the room separating each side.

Amid all that, there were many people either seated or just walking around the areas. Though, the sight of all of the people was something though that Vanitas was unsure of, so he huddled behind his mother.

"What's wrong Vani?" Aqua asked curiously as they approached the counter.

"It's just… loud, and all the people. I'm scared…" he said as he sounded nervous with his tone.

"It's okay honey," she said as she grabbed onto his hand softly and wrapped hers around his, making sure nothing would separate them. "Look, Terra is taking care of the reservation at the moment so it will just be a few minutes of waiting."

Zack looked down at him. "You don't have to be scared. The people here aren't going to hurt you. Everyone is here just to have fun like we are. Would you feel better if I hold your hand then as well?"

Vanitas thought for a moment and then shook his head in agreeance. He quickly shot his hand up and wrapped it as tightly as he could around his father's fingers, making sure to not let go at all.

"We're gonna have so much fun today, Vani. I'll help you too," Ven spoke up suddenly and stood close beside Vanitas.

"Thanks," he muttered almost silently.

"See, you have a bunch of people wanting to help you out. We're going to make sure that you have the best day today Vanitas," Terra suddenly spoke up, trying to assure the boy it would all be okay.

They stood there waiting for a little bit until they were told that it was okay to go. It wasn't long before Terra was done with talking to the man at the counter and turned to them. "Well, it seems my father is as punctual as ever. He's already here. Just follow me and we'll go to the private room that we booked."

They all followed behind Terra and went down the side where all of the games were. As they walked past, Ventus and Vanitas were captivated by all of the different activities that they saw. There was so much that they did not even know yet, but hoped to find out a bit later.

After a moment, they entered into a smaller room that was lined with balloons and streamers. Vanitas let out an audible gasp as he took in each and every birthday decoration that he saw. Then his eyes looked across the room and he saw two familiar people, and one who was not.

The two he did remember were none other than Isa and Lea, who both turned and waved when they saw Vanitas come in with his family. The other person… was someone else that Vanitas had never seen before, but they looked sort of familiar.

" _He… he kind of looks like Terra… but he has a scary gaze…"_ Vanitas thought as he shrank back to hide behind his parents.

Zack looked down and gently placed a hand on Vanitas's head. "Hey, you don't need to be scared. This is your uncle Ansem, who is also my boss at work."

"Really?" Vanitas asked curiosity. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know," Zack shrugged before looking over at Terra. "Maybe it has to do with Terra wanting to open a toy store."

Terra rolled his eyes. "We're not going to start up that story again."

"I agree, such things are meant for conversations at another time," Ansem said, revealing his deep voice. "What is important is meeting my new nephew."

Vanitas continued to hide behind his parents as Ansem walked over. The man got closer to Vanitas's eye level and smiled. "It's nice to properly meet you Vanitas."

Vanitas tried to hide even more, hoping that eventually he wouldn't be seen, but Ansem continued to stay there, chuckling slightly. "I see you are still afraid of new people. It is understandable, but I am not someone you need to be afraid of."

After a few moments Vanitas peaked out from behind his parents, staring at Ansem. He smiled again and remained quiet and calm where he stood. That was when Vanitas noticed something. Slowly he walked away from his parents and over to Ansem.

Soon he was standing right in front of him, and he kept staring. "Your eyes… they are…"

"They are unique aren't they? Just like yours in a way," Ansem replied, giving another smile.

"Unique?" Vanitas asked.

"The eye color that we have is very rare, so that makes it unique, or special," Ansem answered.

Vanitas was not sure how to handle that information. He felt like it was making him happy, but at the same time, he had always felt different about it because of the past.

"I was always told… the eyes were weird…"

"Nonsense," Ansem started. "You don't need to believe that. Let me tell you. Out of all the people in the world, there are only 0.5% that actually have similarly golden to amber-colored eyes."

"Woah, really? Is that small?"

"Very small. So wouldn't you say that is extremely special?"

Vanitas pondered for just a second before answering. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ansem directed another grin at Vanitas, who finally returned his gesture of kindness. Slowly Vanitas moved forward a bit more towards his new uncle and found himself in his arms. The tension that he had in his body left and was replaced by a feeling of relaxation. The man that Vanitas thought was so intimidating at first because of his face and deep voice was actually not like that at all. Instead, he was quite considerate.

The others had a sense of awe at the moment before Zack spoke up. "See Ansem has a soft side to him. After all, he was the one that helped the most in finding you," he said towards Vanitas.

Vanitas paused. "R-Really?" He looked back up at Ansem and stared for a few more moments. Ansem only nodded in return to verify what had just been said.

Ansem then scooped up Vanitas in his arms and proceeded to stand up. At first, Vanitas thought he would be scared when that started to happen, but he felt at ease with his new uncle, and he liked having that feeling. He rested his head gently on Ansem's shoulder, wanting to stay in this warm and comforting embrace as long as he could.

"Wow, looks like he's really warmed up to you, dad," Terra stated as he looked towards the pair of amber-eyed people.

"Ya know, I'm almost a bit jealous. It took him longer to warm up to me, and I'm pretty sure I'm one of the nicest people you'll ever meet," Zack replied as he sulked slightly with a hint of joking in his voice.

"You wouldn't think it might be because you are like a hyper child would you?" Ansem retorted bluntly as a wry smile crossed his face.

Zack began to pout. At this, Vanitas began to stifle a small laugh. He liked seeing his father flustered because he always seemed to overact everything. He started to get so caught up in his head about things that happened next he didn't expect.

"Dad is like a puppy," he uttered without a second thought, and enough where everyone heard.

Vanitas continued to giggle at his own comment, at Zack's expense. Though after a few seconds, he realized he had said that out loud and not inside of his own head. He stopped his chuckles and saw that most everyone was looking at him. He almost began to fear that he had now done something wrong, but it wasn't too long before the rest of the room began to laugh in reply. Even Zack began to laugh at himself after pouting for a few more seconds, and Vanitas joined back into the fray.

The tender moment only lasted for a few more seconds before the laughter began to die down. However the calm did not last too long before a boisterous voice broke the new silence that had fallen.

"Now that everyone's here we can really get the party started!" Lea shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. He immediately grabbed the attention of all the eyes in the room too.

"Calm yourself Lea. Don't get too riled up. Though, it would be nice to do something soon," Isa chimed in before going back to being quiet.

"Well, yeah I guess they're right though. I'm sure that the kids are excited to go and play of course," Aqua started. "So if you guys want to, go on and play."

Ventus and Lea both jumped for joy and shouted almost in unison as the two of them started to run out of the door of the room. Just before Lea exited though, he turned to Ventus and whispered something into his ear. Ventus then ran up to his father and pulled on his pants leg for attention.

"Yes Ven?"

"Lea wanted me to tell you that he said he could beat you at that one game where you have to shoot all the bad guys. I don't remember the name though, but Lea knows where it is."

"Oh yeah?!" he tried to yell loud enough for Lea to hear as he looked over towards the fiery redhead, who stuck his tongue out at Zack. "Oh it's on!"

Zack then took off with Ven in tow after Lea. He nearly left but then looked to see Vanitas still in Ansem's arms. He stopped briefly to talk with him as he allowed Ven to chase off after Lea.

"Hey Vani, do you want to come with us to play some?"

Vanitas almost answered yes, but then he held his tongue. It was true that he wanted to play with all of them and it seemed like something that would be fun. However, he was still slightly nervous about everything. He felt safe in his uncle Ansem's arms, and even though he knew that everyone around the room was good to him, part of him was still too shy.

Ansem noticed this and spoke up. "I think he might still be a bit… nervous."

Zack thought about it for a moment and wanted to say something before Aqua stepped in. "I think he's right Zack. Let me just stay with him for a bit. I'm sure he'll come out there soon. You go watch those two boys."

Realizing he could do nothing else, Zack nodded and left the room after that. Ansem then decided to finally place Vanitas back on the ground, though Vanitas almost tried to fight against it. But once he was back on the ground, Vanitas spoke up.

"So what do I do now?"

"Well, what do you want to do honey?" Aqua asked. "It's your birthday, so you can do anything you want."

Isa had just gotten up and strode over to where the rest of them were standing. He almost had left with Lea, but decided to stick around since Vanitas was still there. Vanitas then noticed him standing before him.

"Oh, what is it Isa?" Aqua asked curiously.

"I wanted to see if Vanitas wanted to stick with me, if he would prefer to not have to listen to the loudness and rambunctiousness of the others," he stated directly. He knew he wanted to chase after Lea at first, since that is usually what he would end up doing to keep him under control. Though once he had seen Vanitas had stayed behind, he wanted to stay and see if he could help his newest friend not be so nervous.

"Rambun… chi… o ness?" Vanitas asked, struggling to say the long word Isa had said.

"Just means they are all loud and excitable children. Lea is far too much at times when he gets excited," Isa answered. "But I know it will be fun to watch him compete against your father."

"It will be?" Vanitas asked again.

"Yeah, though knowing Lea, he is probably going to lose big time," Isa replied before chuckling softly.

Vanitas hummed as he thought about it. He wasn't sure what was so funny about Lea losing, but it didn't seem to be in a bad way from what Vanitas could tell. Besides he did like how Isa was much calmer and quieter than Lea. Slowly Vanitas reached out and took Isa's hand and smiled. "We can go then."

"Wait boys, before you go," Aqua said, grabbing something from the table. She handed a little plastic card to Vanitas. "This is what you use to play games on. Isa can show you how to use it, okay?"

Vanitas took the card and nodded. "Okay. Thank you."

"Now you two have fun, and I will come and find all of you when it is time to eat," Aqua said right before the boys left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday parties are such fun aren't they? And plus Ansem is the best uncle! Heh, still more to come so see you all next time!


	20. Chapter 20

Isa led Vanitas across the arcade area, making sure to show him each thing that was around the place. Vanitas looked on in awe at each machine, not being able to decide which one to try first.

"Take your time if you need to. There's a lot here," Isa spoke, trying to make things easier for Vanitas. "When you are ready, we can go and find Lea and others."

Vanitas nodded slowly as he looked around at the different games. There were so many different games flashing with bright and colorful lights. So many of them looked interesting and inviting, Vanitas started to feel excitement fill him.

"I'm ready," Vanitas replied as he continued to hold onto Isa's hand.

Isa nodded and the two of them started to walk again until they reached the other side of the arcade. There were some games lined up against the wall, and there at one of them Vanitas saw Zack, Ventus, and Lea.

It was a game that had two large screens and both Zack and Lea held large guns of sorts. Lea was a little bit short standing up to a platform that was in front of him as well as Zack, but he still managed to get the gun over the top and pointed at the screen.

Ventus saw Vanitas and Isa coming close and ran over to them. "Hey! There you guys are! Zack and Lea already started, I told them to wait but they got too excited."

"They are still early in the game, so we haven't missed much," Isa replied.

Vanitas stared at the game and slowly moved towards the game that Lea and Zack were playing. On the screen there were men running around and Zack and Lea were clicking the triggers on their guns as fast as they could.

The men on the screen were hit with bullets seconds laters and then dropped to the ground and Zack and Lea moved on to the next section. Vanitas stared a bit longer watching the bodies get shot and then drop, and slowly he backed away from the game.

"I don't like that…" Vanitas mumbled as he drew near Isa.

"What? Oh the game? Yeah… it is a bit violent. I guess you don't really like that thing?" Isa asked.

Vanitas shook his head quickly. "No…"

"It's okay Vani, you don't have to like the game. Zack and Lea like it, but you don't have to if you don't wanna," Ventus replied, trying to cheer up his brothers.

"Okay…" Vanitas replied quietly.

"Would you like to see some of the other games then?" Isa offered. Vanitas took Isa's hand again and nodded. "I'll take that as a yes then. Ven, if Lea or Zack ask we will be elsewhere in the arcade."

"Okay then! I'm gonna watch dad and Lea for now," Ven replied, waving the two of them goodbye for the time being.

With that, Isa and Vanitas turned and started going around to the other parts of the arcade. They passed many more machines, like the claw grabber, dancing games, and even some racing games. The last one Isa was good at, and suggested it to Vanitas, but he did not seem interested all that much. However, after walking past a few more, something caught Vanita's eye as he stopped.

"What is it?" Isa asked when he felt some resistance.

"What's that?" Vanitas asked in reply, pointing towards a game he found interesting.

Isa looked towards his finger. "Ah that. It's called basketball. Basically, you throw the ball into the basket as many times as you can before time expires."

The more Vanitas watched the people that were currently at it, the more he wanted to try it. "Let's do that one then."

"Okay then we can do that. If you need help I can show you how to play as well, but first let's go over to the little kid version. You are a little short to be trying the big kid version," Isa said as he pointed to a few similar looking basketball games that were much smaller than the ones Vanitas first looked at.

Vanitas then walked over to the smaller one, which looked far more reachable than the other one did. Luckily, there was nobody at that one for the time being so they could start right then.

"I think that I get how to play. I watched the other ones," Vanitas said, referring to the people they had just seen playing.

Isa only nodded and allowed Vanitas to go ahead and try. He showed Vanitas how to use the card that Aqua had given him in order to pay for the games to play. Once he had done that, the game was ready to be started up. It was a slow pace at first, Vanitas trying to learn how to properly throw the balls to where they needed to go. But soon after a few tries, he started to get the hang of it, landing nearly every other basket that he tried. Once it was over, there was a large smile on his face.

"Wow that was really fun! I wanna play again."

"That was good for your first time," Isa commented. "Wanna play together?" he asked, pointing to the larger machine that was just freed up.

Vanitas quickly nodded. The two of them then readied themselves and started to play together. Even though one was the normal version and one was the kids version, they still tried to compete with each other nonetheless. Isa was making each shot like it was second nature to him. Meanwhile, Vanitas was hitting his shots periodically, but he couldn't quite keep up with Isa. The duo played a few more games, each of them smiling at the good time they were having. After the last time, Isa stopped to talk to Vanitas.

"If you don't want to use up all your points on your card on this, you can try the other games too."

"That sounds like a good idea," Vanitas spoke quickly. "Can we go to Ven and my dad?"

"Sure thing. Let us go and find them."

Isa and Vanitas didn't have to go too far before they found the people they were looking for. Zack and the boys had since moved on from the shooting game that Vanitas had found a bit too violent. The game that they were playing now was one that had bright flashing lights everywhere on some kind of wall, and they would alternate off and on, almost as if in a pattern.

Currently Lea was standing in front of the game and was trying to hit the lights when they would come on. After a few more seconds, the timer went off and he stopped.

"Dang, only 445. I thought that I could get higher than that," Lea said aloud as he shook his head.

"Well, at least that's higher than you got the last time," Isa said, causing Lea and the others to turn to look their way.

"Oh hey Isa," Lea replied. "And I know, but I wanted to beat Ven's dad's score. It's really high."

"Well you've got a ways to go before you're on that level," Zack chuckled as he placed a hand behind his head while grinning.

"It looks really cool," Vanitas spoke up finally, trying to get a word in with everyone.

"Vani!" Ventus replied as he ran up to his brother. "Oh it really is fun. Maybe we could play some of it then?"

"You would want to?" Vanitas asked.

"Yeah, of course. We can have some more fun."

Zack then spoke up to them. "Yeah you two should try it taking turns first before playing together. It's really fun, but it takes a lot of focus. Come on Vanitas, I'll show you how it's played then."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, that would help a lot."

As Vanitas walked up to where Zack was, Lea spoke up again. "Well, if you guys are gonna do that, Isa and I might go and find something else for now. Right Isa?"

"If you would like to do that we can."

"Good, cause I wasn't taking no for an answer. Well, we'll be over in another part of the arcade then. Got it memorized?" he said as he placed his single index finger to the side of his head.

"I'm sure they do," Isa commented with a sigh. "Let's go then if you want to do something."

Lea didn't wait around as he and Isa then walked off towards the other side of the building towards some of the other game areas. That only left Ventus and Vanitas with their father now. Zack smiled and pointed to the game, ready to explain it. "So the goal of the game is to click as many lights that glow as possible. It can get pretty fast at times, but it's fairly simple to do. So who wants to go first?"

"I will!" Ventus said while raising his hand.

"Okay Ven, you're up first. Let's see how you do," Zack said as he stepped to the side.

Ventus stepped up to the platform and scanned his card on the machine, then he clicked a button and waited. The lights started to come on and he began clicking as many of them as he could. He sometimes missed some of the buttons, since it was hard to focus on all of them, but he clicked as many as he could.

At the end, when the timer went off, Ventus had a score of 230. He smiled and turned around to Vanitas and Zack. "Did I do really good?"

Zack smiled and patted Ventus on the head. "Of course you did. Now it is your turn Vanitas."

Vanitas watched as Zack nodded to him, gesturing for him to stand up on the platform. "Just scan your card and pick 'one playter' and then it will begin."

Vanitas did as he was told and he saw the lights come on. Doing what he saw the others do, he started to hit as many of them as he possibly could. When the timer went off he looked up at the top to see that the number read '240'.

"Wow! Vani you beat my score! That's really cool!"

Vanitas smiled happily at his score once more. Looking at the number on there really did make him happy he was able to get that many points. "I guess I did a good job."

"Yeah! Now we can play together, right dad?" Ventus asked as he looked to Zack.

"Of course, now you just have one of you scan the card and this time pick two players. How it will work will be similar except you only get half of the lights to click. Still is fun though."

Ventus was readied up before too long, and Vanitas followed what Ventus did in order to make sure that he was set to play as well. Once they were both ready, the game started and the two boys started moving their arms wildly, trying to hit all the lights that they could. The first game, Ventus won. The second game, Vanitas won. They kept playing the game for a little while, each one edging out the other every now and then, but both boys were laughing and enjoying themselves immensely.

Soon enough, both of them stopped, hassling for air as they had gotten tired.

"Wow, you boys sure do like to compete. It's good to see Vanitas so gung-ho about it too," Zack chimed in after they had stopped.

Before he could say anything else, his phone vibrated in his pocket. When he took it out to check what it was, it was a message from Aqua.

' _Food is finally here and ready so bring the boys back please. :)'_

He then tucked his phone back away and turned to the boys. "All right, your mother said that the food is all there now. So who's hungry?"

"Me!" they both shouted in unison.

"Then let's go get some food shall we?" Zack suggested.

They each made sure they had collected all the tickets that they had won, and then were ready to go. They followed Zack all the way back across the arcade and to the party room. Once they arrived, everyone else, even Isa and Lea, were already waiting for them.

"Come over here Vani," Aqua said as she pulled out a chair from the middle area of the table.

Vanitas walked over and took the sit and right away Ventus sat down to his right. He looked over to his left and saw that Lea had taken the other chair. "Hey, is it okay if I sit next to you?"

Vanitas thought for a moment. Lea was still rather loud, but he was excitable like Ventus, though probably even more. He didn't see it as too much though compared to the first time, though he still preferred Isa's quiet and calmness. He chose not to say that though, knowing that he shouldn't. "You can sit there."

After everyone else was seated around the table, whether it was next to Ventus or Lea or across, everyone had a seat. Vanitas started to wonder what was going to happen. He knew about birthdays, but he had never properly experienced one. He had no idea what to expect or what he should be doing. All he could do was wait and see what would happen next. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long as some people came into the room, all carrying quite nice smelling food.

"Oh boy that all looks great!" Zack exclaimed as the servers sat the food down on the table.

Once all the food had been delivered, everyone seemed ready to dig in. However, none of them started and all turned towards Vanitas. Aqua was the one that spoke up after that.

"Vani. Since it's your birthday, you get firsts. Get whatever and however much you want okay?"

Vanitas looked around at everything, not being able to decide what he wanted. It all looked so fresh and delightful. In a moment though, a loud grumble was heard from him, or rather from his stomach. This caught a laugh from some around the table, but the sound and feeling was all it took for Vanitas to know what he needed.

"Okay!" he excitedly said, and began the birthday feast for the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter to go! It's really hard to believe that time has gone by this fast ha.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter is here everyone! It is finally time to wrap up the story.

Dinner had been probably the most delicious food he had ever experienced. There were so many kinds of foods to choose from and all of them smelled wonderful. He happily tried each of them to see whether or not he liked it or not, and it turned out he liked each food there. His most favorite probably, being the pizza.

But what surprised him was that there was even more food that came afterwards. Once dinner was done more people came in with a few more things of food, not as many as before, but still enough good-looking things.

Though something large was placed down in him that was far too large for him to eat on his own. Whatever it was though had a rich and tasty smell coming off. Different than pizza, but still yummy smelling, maybe even more so than the pizza.

What was before him was large and reactular and a light brown color. There were little details on the top of it and little fancy designs as well. In the center had a bit of writing saying ' _Happy Birthday Vanitas'_.

Aqua walked over and leaned over next to Vanitas. "This is your birthday cake. Do you know what is special about it?"

"No. Do I get to eat all of it?" Vanitas asked.

Aqua laughed gently. "No you get to share it with everyone else. But first we are going to put these candles in it. Then we light them and sing a little song for you."

"A song for me? Why's that?"

"Because it is your birthday and that is what people do. Then once we sing the song, you close your eyes and make a wish. It can be anything you want it to be and then you blow out the candles."

"Oh," Vanitas said, not quite understanding the meaning of it.

"It's just a tradition for fun. Just have fun with it and don't overthink it, okay?"

"Okay then," Vanitas answered softly.

"Everyone ready then?" Aqua asked and made sure that everyone was paying attention.

She made a three count and then everyone started singing to Vanitas in the most cheerful tone they had.

_Happy Birthday to you,_

_Happy Birthday to you._

_Happy Birthday dear Vanitas,_

_Happy Birthday to you._

It was all over quickly as everyone started to clap. Vanitas sat there and stared, not knowing exactly what it was all about. But for some reason, hearing everyone seemingly cheer for him made a smile cross his little face. He looked around to see everyone giving him a smile in return. It all felt nice.

"So, uh, I make a wish now?"

"Yep, you can do anything you want. Go ahead!" Zack encouraged him as he patted him on the shoulder.

Vanitas thought hard about what he wanted, taking a few seconds. But soon, he knew exactly what it was. With a big inhale of air, he blew hard and extinguished all of the candles at once. Everyone in the room began to cheer as Ventus excitedly waved to Vanitas.

"So what did you wish for Vani?!"

"You know that's supposed to be a secret," Isa spoke up as he nudged him.

"Well I kinda wanna know too," Lea interjected.

The adults in the room shared a glance with each other and sighed. At which point, Zack spoke to his son.

"It's up to you if you want to tell them."

There was not much waiting though as Vanitas had apparently already made up his mind what he was going to do.

"I wished that things can stay like this always and be happy."

Aqua and Zack shared a small glance with each other and smiled widely. It was obvious the room was radiating with positivity at the moment as well.

Then, Aqua took the knife and began slicing pieces of the cake in order to pass them around. "Well now, let's all celebrate."

* * *

Another month had moved by right before Vanitas's eyes, but he still enjoyed every moment of it. Everyday was a new experience for him, bringing in new memories every step of the way. With how things had been going he couldn't see anything that would be able to tear down what had been built up, and he couldn't wait to see what was next.

The first thing he did when he woke up was to wake up his brother. It had become a routine at this point that one would always wake up the other if they were still asleep, and Ventus was clearly still sleeping.

Vanitas crawled up onto the bed and started to shake his brother while trying not to laugh. "Ven. Ven! Wake up! Wake up, we gotta get up!"

Ventus mumbled a response too quiet to understand. He was still sleeping, or at least trying to, though his brother was making it very hard now. It only took a few more shakes from Vanitas to finally get him up and awake.

"Okay, I'm awake now," Ventus yawned before stretching.

The two of them got ready and headed downstairs for breakfast where they saw their parents setting the table. Today seemed like any other day, but Vanitas started to notice that something seemed different. His parents seemed more happy than usual and they kept smiling to add to that whole happiness vibe.

Vanitas watched as his mother hummed a little peaceful tune before taking her seat at the table. "Good morning Vani. Ven."

"Good morning mom!" Ventus replied first.

"Morning," Vanitas answered shortly after as they both took their seats.

After a few seconds, Zack cleared his throat. "Hey, I'm still here, I haven't gone anywhere just like all the other times" he said jokingly.

"Morning," Ventus and Vanitas both responded in unison, trying not to giggle to one another.

"Food smells good this morning, doesn't it boys?" Zack questioned.

"Oh yeah, I'm so hungry!" Ventus replied joyously.

Vanitas chimed in as well. "Me too!"

They didn't have to wait long as Aqua finally brought the finished food to the table. She continued to hum happily after the food was set and they were all ready to eat. It still seemed weird to Vanitas. He knew that they had been happy before, but this was a different kind of happy he had never seen before. It seemed far too cheerful than what would be normal. Or, at least what he was used to.

He almost said something until he noticed the delicious food that was sitting in front of him now. Drool began to form in his mouth as he stared at the breakfast that had been prepared. Not wanting to wait any longer, he dug right into his food, enjoying every bit.

Once he had eaten he still noticed how happy his parents were. It still felt so strange to him and he found himself wanting to know why. He wanted to understand why out of any day that they seemed extra happy today.

"Mom? Dad?" Vanitas asked, finally finding the words to speak up.

"Yes Vani?" Aqua asked in a gentle voice. "Something on your mind?"

"Hmm… why are you two so happy?"

Ventus interjected. "Huh? What do you mean Vani?" seemingly not noticing the same thing that Vanitas did.

Aqua and Zack shared a look between each other as they were finishing off their food. Aqua fluttered her blue eyes a few times at Zack as if trying to tell him something just by her look. He seemed to understand as he nodded and then turned his head back towards where the boys were sitting as Aqua did the same.

"Well, since we have finished up the food, I guess we should go ahead and start. It's something that we were going to tell you two today anyways after you were up," Zack began, though his word choice raised more questions among the boys.

"Oh? What is it? Something super secret?" Ventus inquired innocently.

"Yeah, something like that?" Vanitas followed up.

Aqua found herself slightly chuckling. "Well, I guess you could say something like that," she replied, placing a hand over her stomach briefly as she looked down.

"But what is it then? You gotta tell us now!" Ventus cheered. "It's something really good isn't it? But it's not food is it?"

"Well, just calm down real quick," Zack started, waiting for the boys to remain still and listen. "Okay so… of course you know we adopted both of you. We wanted kids and it was the best way at the time."

Aqua nodded in agreement. "But now that we have had some more time to think, we wanted to expand our little family. This time in a different way."

The boys continued to listen, trying to understand what their parents were saying.

"We love you both very much," Aqua continued. "But we wanted something of our own finally," she spoke as she glanced back at Zack with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, what we're trying to say is that you're both going to have a little sister!" he exclaimed with joy.

"We're going to be having a baby. And we wanted to share it with you as soon as we knew everything," Aqua stammered over her words, obviously getting choked up with emotion.

"A baby… sister?" Ventus asked. Clearly this was not the answer he was expecting to hear. His face filled with confusion, trying to process what he had just been told. Out of every option he had imagined in his head, a little baby was the last of his thoughts, or more actually it wasn't even one of them.

"Yeah! Isn't it exciting?" Zack bursted out again.

Unlike Ventus, who was trying to process the thought of having another sibling, Vanitas had a different set of thoughts on his mind. He heard clear as day what his parents had said, and he knew that they were excited… but he didn't understand it. He didn't feel as excited as they wanted him to be from what he could guess. He felt more worried if anything. More worried that they had seemingly wanted another kid out of the blue. He could only wonder how long they must have been thinking about the idea. Was it before he was adopted or after? Either way it still left him uneasy.

He sat there for a few more moments, trying to figure out what to say. Aqua's soft voice, however, pulled him right from his deep thoughts.

"Vanitas dear. Did you hear what we had said?" she asked curiously.

All eyes seemed to be on him now, at least from his parents. They seemed to be waiting to hear what his response would be for some reason. He wasn't sure why it mattered as much to them though. Eventually, even Ventus looked at him; however, not with the same look their parents were sporting.

"I-I… uhh… I don't know…" he trailed off before he could even get a full sentence out. "I thought that me and Ven… that we were good enough…"

The tone of his voice and the way he said those words struck both Zack and Aqua right in the heart. "Oh no honey, that's not it at all."

"But… but you want a baby. Doesn't that mean you… you're tired of us?" Vanitas asked.

He didn't even wait for his parents to answer him. "You wanna replace me. I'm not good enough anymore…" His chest was tightening each passing second. He felt like he was being squeezed from the inside, and it hurt. It really hurt.

A moment later he was in his mother's arms. Her embrace was warm and tender just like always, but now Vanitas still felt that small bit of uneasiness. Either way his mother started to speak softly into his ear. "Vani, that isn't what this is all about. We don't want to replace you or Ven. We love you both dearly. We only wanted to expand our family even more."

"But I thought it would just be Vani and me? I liked it like that," Ventus chimed in, still trying to make sense of things.

Zack let out a tired sigh. "Well I didn't expect this all to happen," he said in a whispered breath to himself. "Look, you two will still have each other of course. Just think of it as someone else to play and share things with."

It seemed that Ventus and Vanitas were both trying to think about what they had just heard. Though the gears were turning more in Ventus's head now as he started to slowly see what Zack was talking about.

"Oh really? Well that would be kinda cool then," Ventus added after that.

Vanitas, however, still was not as understanding. "B-But… You still want someone else… Why would we want someone else to play with? I like playing with just Ven. I don't want anyone else!"

"Vanitas!" Aqua yelled in a shocked surprise.

However, she immediately regretted her tone. She was so close to Vanitas that it seemed much louder than normal. Not only that, but she felt him flinch roughly and afterwards saw him starting to shake. He still had not completely recovered from the previous issues. She tried to hug him more but he slightly turned away.

"Vanitas… I didn't mean to yell. I was just surprised by what you said."

He turned to her finally, tears stained his eyes and blurred his vision. "Y-You guys don't want me either now do you?! I… I thought I was enough…" he couldn't continue his words as his sobs took over before turning into full-fledged crying.

Vanitas felt another pair of hands wrap around him. He blinked a few times to try and see through the tears and saw that it was Zack. Both his mom and dad were holding him tightly, still bringing that warm feeling that he enjoyed, but the tears wouldn't stop.

"Vani, I know it may be hard to understand," Zack said, speaking slowly and calmly as he could. "But please understand that we do not want to replace you. We would never want to lose you. It's like this… we adopted Ven and we loved him and then we found you and also wanted to adopt you. You found that both of you brought joy into our lives from the moment we met you. So we thought we wanted to have even more joy in our lives with another. So we aren't replacing either one of you, we are just adding to the happiness and joy that you have already brought us."

Vanitas felt like his heart was melting. The words had been spoken so gently, so kindly to him. He truly felt like he understood what his parents meant in that moment. It started to feel so much clearer than before and he started smiling. "You… you really mean it?"

"Of course kiddo," Zack replied. "That's the truth and we don't ever want you to feel like we are replacing you or Ventus."

Aqua almost started to speak. But then she and Zack both heard some sniffles to the side of them. When they both looked, they could see tears in Ventus's eyes, which had turned slightly red as he tried to wipe them away.

"I-I don't want things to change too much either…"

"Oh Ven…" Aqua began. "Come here please," she asked him softly with a gentle tone.

Ventus joined in their hug and the warmth felt even greater to Vanitas. They were together now and he loved the warm feelings moments like these gave. Though he started to think about what his parents said and he started to imagine if there was one more child joined in the hug. He saw that there wouldn't be anything wrong with that. It would just make the hug even larger.

Vanitas finally started to smile more. "I think… I think I like the idea of another sibling. And Ventus and I can watch over and play with them?"

"That's exactly it," Zack replied.

"Having another little child to play with is the most fun that all of this can bring," Aqua added.

"So we are going to get a little brother or sister?" Ventus suddenly asked, already forgetting that his parents had already said the answer before.

Aqua laughed softly as she pulled away from the hug. Before she answered she got up from the table and picked up something from the counter. She placed it on the table in front of the boys. "This is what is called an ultrasound. It may not look like much and may look blurry, but this image shows your future… little sister."

Ventus and Vanitas stared at the picture and then up at their mother. "Little sister!?" They both shouted in union causing Zack and Aqua to laugh at how cute it sounded.

"Yeah, that's right. You boys are going to be big brothers to an adorable little sister," Aqua replied.

"What's her name?" Ventus asked.

"Yeah! What is she going to be called?" Vanitas added.

"Well we still have a few months before she is born," Aqua said before placing her hand over her stomach. "But we have been thinking of a few choices."

"Let me get you guys the list. Maybe you can help us decide."

Zack walked over to a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper. He placed it next to the picture of the ultrasound and the boys began to read over it. There were a lot of different names on there, a lot of common sounding ones from what they could tell, but there was one that seemed new to Vanitas.

He pointed to a name and looked at his parents. "What's this one?"

"That's Xion," Zack answered.

"Ooh, I like how that sounds!" Ventus said. "That sounds like a really pretty name."

"Yeah, really pretty." Vanitas agreed.

"Aqua, it looks like our boys may be deciding the name for us after all," Zack laughed.

"Seems like it," Aqua said in agreement. "But I do like the name Xion as well."

"Can we name her Xion then?" Vanitas asked. "We all like the name so that means we should name her Xion."

Zack and Aqua started to laugh again. They smiled happily at the open mindedness that their children had. Finally Aqua spoke up again. "I think Xion would be a fine name to choose. So that settles it then. You're little baby sister is going to be named Xion."

"Yay!" Vanitas and Ventus cheered together.

"When do we get to see her?" Ventus then asked.

"Oh, well… that is going to be a few months," Aqua explained. "But don't worry now that you both know, we will keep you updated."

Vanitas and Ventus nodded with excitement. What had started off as a slightly worrisome morning was turning into something really fun and interesting. The concept of a new little sibling was still something strange to think about, but the more the boys thought about it the more excited they became.

They smiled up at her after that as they all thought about what would be coming in the future. Vanitas especially got lost deep in thought. In that moment, he was happier than he had ever been, and he was captivated by the moment. He had a family now that treated him nicely and actually cared for him, and most of all they were never ever going to forget about him or replace him.

"T-Thank you guys… for everything," he muttered out.

Even though he still was unsure about his feelings on certain matters, that family moment made every worry seem to disappear. He couldn't wait to find out what joy a new little sister would bring in the future. At that moment, everything felt just right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all who have read this story and enjoyed it. We had a lot of fun writing this and it went on far longer than we expected, but it is what it is. 
> 
> But either way, be sure to check out both our pages for other stories and so much more! Thanks everyone!


End file.
